Siblinghood of the World Blogger Award – my answers

I was nominated by Madeleine D’este to answer some questions as part of the Siblinghood of the World Blogger awards. Her responses can be seen here on her blog.

I answer 10 questions and then i pass it on by asking 10 other bloggers 10 questions of my own.

When did you feel like a “real” writer?

Towards the beginning of last year. I had a conversation with an old friend who was around when i first started writing the draft for my novel. Which was 15 years ago (there was a period of more than a decade where it got put away and I gave up the idea of being a writer altogether). I was talking to her about the fact that I didn’t really feel comfortable calling myself a writer much and she told me that she’d thought I was a real writer after seeing those early draft chapters and had always been disappointed that I stopped. Funny how having just one person validate what you are doing can sometimes make a difference to you.

How do you overcome resistance?

I join it and we take down the man together!

Mostly I just bounce over to another project or throw some energy into my other creative interests in order to keep the tap running.

What advice would you give yourself as a wannabe writer?

1. You’re not a wanker for wanting to be or referring to yourself as a Writer.
2. Just do it, write, stop putting it off and thinking nobody would want to read it.

Do you prefer writing or editing?

Both for different reasons. Writing  is quite a cathartic process for me and it feels amazing once I’ve done it, but other than the occasional ‘that’s a great sentence’ moment writing itself is something that I find difficult and draining. Editing often feels more satisfying while I am doing it as it appeals to my perfectionist traits.

What part of the writing process do you struggle with the most?

The slip ‘twixt brain and page.

Getting something out of my head and written down for the first drafts is what I tend to get stuck on the most and it’s the part that feels like the most work for me. I often sit with a ball of ideas just about to fall out of my head for a while before they actually get onto a page.

Do you Nanowrimo?

Yes. I did it last year and am participating this year (both times as a last minute decision with no pre-planning whatsoever). Nowhere near ‘winning’ it by the 50k benchmark, but this year I wrote double what I wrote last year, so it feels like a win to me.

What authors do you follow on social media?

The majority of people I follow on Twitter these days are writers of some sort. Authors of note that i follow are William Gibson, Cory Doctorow & S.E.Hinton.

What’s more important to you; a good plot or beautiful writing?

After struggling with this internally for a bit, a good plot is probably more important, because a simply written piece with a good story will hold me more than a beautifully written piece that doesn’t go anywhere or say anything.

Do you take yourself on artist’s dates? What do you do?

I saw this question and thought “is that like a Masturdate?” After having looked it up it turns out that, yes, I do go on artist’s dates. I visit bookshops and lose myself, I go on photo taking expeditions and also dabble in visual arts on canvas.

When friends and family ask “can I read your book?” What do you say?

Not something that I have had happen very much so far, but when it has I say. ‘Yes, sure. I’d like to know what you think of it.’ before mentally running into a foxhole.

That’s it from me. I will nominate the following writers (all of whom i know from Twitter) to answer my 10 questions:

Heather Grace Stewart     Hester B Fox   Keira Drake   Shannon Noel Brady

Dave Koster   Annelisa Christensen   Julia Grantham    Kevin Ansbro

Louise Gornall    Michael Huddlestone

Here be your questions!

1. Do you believe in the “You must write every single day” ethos?
2. What was the last book you read?
3. How do you find balancing time to write with the rest of your life?
4. Are you a Planner or a Pantser?
5. What are you currently working on?
6. How do you handle criticism of your work?
7. When people ask the inevitable “what do you write about?” how do you respond?
8. Who are the Writers you admire and why?
9. How much of yourself is in any of your characters?
10. Where do you write from? What fuels the stories you choose to tell and why?