Distractions and decisions

During the Macmillan New Writing launch, now over a week ago (bloody hell, where did that week go?) one of the writers I spoke to admitted they were having problems with their second book. The problem was they felt under pressure to better themselves and inevitably their first book that was getting published. My advice (ironically from a writer who would be published after them) was that they shouldn’t approach their second book with a view to getting it published. They should approach it as a labour of love, and one they want to write, not one they want to write for Macmillan who get first refusal on it. As I’ve discovered to the folly of some where I work, you should never try and second guess someone, especially when you don’t know what they want. The Burning Sands of Time had begun life in my mind way before Macmillan saw the first chapter of The Secret War. I had even written an aborted version while I was travelling in Australia and New Zealand a few years back. When Macmillan asked me to sign on the dotted line, I didn’t think “great, what else can I write for Macmillan?” Instead I thought, “great - The Secret War is now complete, now for the second book!” And that’s how I’ve approached it since. The Burning Sands of Time (though this is a title that might change) is being written even though The Secret War has not been published (and it hasn’t yet - I must wait until January next year for that) and so I’m writing a second book because I want to, regardless if the first becomes a success.
So I feel quite smug. And I suppose I felt quite smug at the launch, because I didn’t have the problem of self-imposed pressure that other writers feel. I just approach things differently, for the sake of the writing more than anything. Sure, I can write even with a gun against my head, but I know I’ll be doing the reader a disservice if I had to churn something out because I was contracted to, or felt I had to. Perhaps that is why I am quite happy at the moment not to have an advance. To me, an advance is just added pressure to repay a publisher’s financial faith. I’d like to think I can pay my way like everyone else in this world. But all is not perfect, nor is it easy, as I’ve found while writing the second book. I’m suffering from distractions - too many of them, as it stands, and it can only get worse. In my working life I’m leaving my job for another one (same organisation, different side of the fence though - gamekeeper turned poacher if you will). It’s a job that should narrow my concentration which can only be a good thing and keep my discipline focused on work, and then my writing (I hate jobs where you are idle for hours on end - you just don’t feel like writing when you’ve done nothing constructive through the day). But it’s upheaval and distracting. Then there’s the house-hunting we are trying to cram in, a mate’s stag-do to sort out, and then more importantly: my book being published next year. When I imagined being published, I never believed there was so much to do, even eight to nine months before the launch date. But there are lots and lots and lots of things that need doing. Easter weekend, for instance, was spent in Bournemouth with my sister-in-law, Gill, who is my personal photographer too and has taken some pretty good photos of me for publicity purposes and for the jacket of the book. Then there is also the website which I’m designing with Mel, not to mention visiting writing sites, contacting writing groups etc. And then there’s this blog, which is taxing too, (not to mention distracting). So why do a blog? Well, I guess because a few of you out there find this blog interesting and some benefit, but also because it’s therapeutic. As I said to Will Atkins, I’ve never kept a diary before, and this is the closest thing I have to writing down my thoughts and feelings. At the moment I’m doing okay. I write about three entries a week, which isn’t bad. I’m hoping that continues, but I know there will be times when I won’t be able to keep that momentum going. At some point I’ll need a breather. But not quite yet!
And so to the writing… Yes, I’ve been distracted, and I know the first draft is going to need a lot of work to bring it up to scratch. But it is flowing nicely when I don’t get sidetracked. Like kick-starting an old car, the first few sentences or paragraphs of any writing session are of a throaty, wobbly standard, but from then on it flows like a Mercedes Benz on a clear stretch of the M1!