The Writing Coach

9 ideas to improve your productivity as a writer

In July I hosted a free teleclass on the subject of productivity for writers and at the end of that session, I asked the participants to outline their key learnings from the class, as well as the commitments they would make as a result of the class.  The class was a rich learning environment and it was such a pleasure for me to witness the sharing that occurred during the hour we spent on the phone together.  I wanted to share my own thoughts on the subject of how writers can be most productive, but the class also provided a great opportunity for people to talk about their experience to date and to learn from one another. 

Now it's my turn to share some of the class learnings with you.  These are the key 'take-aways' that the participants reported - in no particular order.  What follows are direct quotations from participants who fed back to me,.  Occasionally I also summarise to make the point more clearly:

Forget your limitations (or what I brought back from Barcelona)

The two paintings that accompany this post illustrate the most important learning I brought back from my recent holiday in Barcelona.  They also serve as a reminder of the most precious moments that I spent there.  The paintings are by my children, aged 11 and 7 respectively and for me they are testimony to the fact that creativity is inherent in all of us, regardless of any notion of 'inborn talent'.  When we are not held back by the limitations of our own thought, we can all produce interesting and vibrant work.  Sadly, as adults, those limiting thoughts so often get in the way.   In the words of Richard Bach in the marvelous 'Illusions'  (one of my favourite books as a teenager):  Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours".

When in Barcelona, we spent some time at the apartment of a good friend of mine from University days.  We visited him after a wonderful day at the Miro Museum.  Even after that treat, at my friend's house, we all admired the fabulous display of oil paintings he had in a cabinet.  Having visited him before, I was in on the secret, but my husband David was not and asked who had painted them.  The answer was that he asks every guest who stays in the apartment to use the canvases, oil paints and brushes that he keeps there to paint a picture, preferably abstract, that he can display.  The work was stunning and none of it was painted by professional artists.  Indeed most of the paintings were done by people who had not picked up a paintbrush since school.

Thoughts (and objects) to pack in my Barcelona suitcase this year

Tomorrow, early, I head off to Barcelona, my fifth trip to the Catalonian capital, my favourite city, London-excepted. 

I first celebrated this city in words when I made my first ever entry on this blog here in 2005.  Then again, I wrote about an incident in the Picasso Museum here.  As the city has always been such a huge source of inspiration to me, I'm excited to visit again, to see what it will uncover within me this time.  Though it's true, the Picasso book that I wrote of in the latter blog post has not yet materialised, I know there is still something there, waiting to be uncovered.  I've been toying with the idea of studying art history for some time, indeed I've recently been looking into the idea of an MA in the philosophy of art, though given my current commitments, I'm dreaming a couple of years into the future I feel...  All the same, I know that art will play a large role in my future life.  I hope to make art and to write about it and have made a small start this year by taking art classes with the wonderful artist Stephanie Wilkinson.   My current novel, in the final stages of development, also has an art -history sub-plot involving Modigliani's last mistress Jeanne Hebuterne.  So, given all this, what thoughts (and objects) am I packing in my suitcase this year?

10 Insights from a Writing Life

A couple of nights back, I was rifling through the filing cabinet, looking for the Anne Tyler essay mentioned in the previous post, when I came across this sketch.  I was thrilled to discover it as it brought back great memories of the time when I appeared on-stage at the Dartington Festival alongside my former teacher, Sir Malcolm Bradbury and my friend, the novelist Louise Doughty.  We were debating that thorny old subject - 'Can creative writing be taught?'

Well, I certainly believe that good writing can be facilitated.  Indeed, a few weeks ago, I was standing in for Sara at her 'Novel in a Month' writing course, a course linked to the Nanowrimo idea that if one freewrites, it is possible to write an entire draft of a novel in 30 days.  There are some links here to the idea that I propose in my eBook so it's a subject that I'm familiar with, even as in general I take my time over novels, having produced, on average, a novel every 4 years for the past 20 years (yikes, is that how long I have been writing...) 

I began the class by asking if there were any areas in particular that the students would like to cover and one person asked if I might give a list of '10 insights into the writing life' that I have garnered during the course of my writing career.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was unable to come up with a list of 10 off the top of my head.  But I promised I would think on it, so here, for the 'Novel in a Month' people and for everyone else, is my list of 10...

Productivity for Writers - a free teleclass

"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing. . . . Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." E.L. Doctorow

This quotation echos my beliefs about the organic process of writing.  It also says something important about the need to get words down, if we are to really 'be' writers.  Productivity is such an important part of the process, yet why is it that so many of us procrastinate so endlessly about putting pen to paper or 'getting black on white'?

If you would like to become more productive as a writer, please join me and a group of fellow writers, next Wednesday at 8.30pm UK time.  I will be running a free teleclass on the subject of productivity that will touch upon:

• Passion - how passion for your subject affects output
• Focus - how to achieve it
• Boundaries - saying 'no' to other demands to allow time for our writing
• Time Management - how to prioritise our writing in the midst of a busy life
• Habits - how regularity breeds success
• Commitment - how do we achieve it?
• Fear - that nasty little blighter
• Confidence - we don't write if we don't believe in ourselves, so we need this stuff!

I'm so looking forward to connecting with you on this call.  Please do e-mail me  if you'd like to attend and I will forward you details of how to dial into the line. All are very welcome and the class is totally free and obligation-free and it is a great opportunity to connect with fellow writers who are facing the same challenges in relation to getting productive and inspired. 

Those who wish to take this class further may consider signing up for the Creative Vision Writers' Group.  This group launches in September and is limited to 12 places.  Others may wish to join the Writing Coach group on Facebook which I have just made open to all.  Some great conversations will be starting there shortly and I'm sure it will provide a good way of keeping in touch with those that you meet on the call. 

I look forward to 'meeting' you on the call next Wednesday.