Change part one

Some of you might have gathered from the last blog entry that I've been suffering from RSI and because of this my visits to this blog and the Macmillan new writing blog have been few. A writer or any artist is expected to suffer for their art, which is perhaps a romantic notion of how one follows their craft. In reality when you have RSI or anything approaching a tendon or muscular strain doing anything such as using a mouse or typing on a keyboard is bloody hard work and painful. Add to that looking after a baby and practical concerns intrude. So where does that leave my writing? Well, I guess it means that I've had to put the third novel on hold. It's not something I wanted to do and it's been forced upon me, as my editor told me there is no point trying to write when in the back of my mind I’m trying to block out the pain curling up my wrists and throughout my fingers.
But I am a writer. It’s what I do. But how does a writer write without actually putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard? My imagination is not impaired, nor is my enthusiasm and I can’t stand not to write.
So apart from rehabilitating my wrists which may be a long process, I've been looking into other means to write. Dave Budd reminded me that Barbara Cartland used to dictate her novels (indeed I remember a comedy sketch on this very thing which at the time I thought purely daft -but now the irony is not lost on me), and so I thought ‘why not?’. But it's not so easy dictating anything let alone a novel. Writing is about what comes naturally to you, and I suppose simply sitting somewhere dictating fiction is not the most natural thing in the world. Indeed it's almost narcissistic in the same way it would feel to give your acceptance speech to the mirror for an award that doesn't exist. Most writers don't like the sound of their voices. We're not talking narrative voice here, but the sound of their own incessant droning as they sit in a quiet room talking to no one in particular. Believe me it's not easy but it can be overcome.

Indeed you might be surprised to know that this blog entry is entirely dictated, which might explain the slight change in narrative voice. After all some writers - including this writer - have an altogether different voice when it comes to writing than they do general conversing. But I can get away with it here because let's face it there are no airs and graces on informal blogs such as this.
Fiction is different. Writing books is different. Especially a series of books. Because in my case with the Secret War books, I have different a narrative voice and it's not the narrative voice that is present in this blog or when I talk to people. It will take a lot of getting used to to dictate a new book in an old voice. I am trying to do it now; I've been talking to myself in the shower a lot and at other times around the house to the point that Sarah must be thinking I'm losing my mind. I haven't quite graduated to talking to myself on the streets though that might happen... but it's something I must do if only to save myself discomfort and for the ability to do things that I've previously taken for granted.

This blog entry has taken around half an hour to write. It's not been that accurate and at times I've had to delete what I've dictated, but the majority of this blog (I'd say about 90%?), has been written using a speech recognition program on a computer - not a trusty assistant typing away while I lounge in a comfortable chair with tea and biscuits at my side. That's just as well because I have a habit of changing my mind and changing the order of what I want written – a trusty assistant would probably have quit by now!
I'm not entirely sure how long it will take to dictate fiction from the top of my head. It could take a lot longer than it takes me to type usually, because it does not feel natural. But I think with much perseverance, it will do. In fact it might even be a blessing, after all don't many writers speak their prose aloud after they've written it? I guess what I'm doing is the opposite or perhaps just the other way round; I can be sure that what I write sounds fine once enunciated rather than I hope what I write on the page may sound okay once I speak it aloud.

But I'm beginning to babble...

What I'm talking about here is a new regime. A regime where I might sound crazy talking to myself, but as long as the words are put down on screen and put down the way I want them to be written, then a little insanity is not much to ask for, is it?