I totally get what you’re saying, all the time I get myself stressed by thinking up how I will have to respond to things that haven’t even happened yet. Though that being said I wouldn’t mind time traveling to October 😉
"I've suffered many troubles in my life, most of which never happened," said Mark Twain, maybe. Yes, it's a very human thing to get ahead of ourselves. Sometimes I think I've got a grip on it, and at others I'm spending most of my time in the future. Oh well, a work in progress. Thanks for making contact, Kim, I really appreciate your blog posts about my first book - you're very kind and a great reader to have along for the journey!
Thanks, Simon. Yes, I can really see the appeal of writing a serial - the immediacy of it must feel great. And you're getting feedback from readers straight away. Writing a book is such a long process that it's hard not to keep looking ahead and dreaming of it being finished, and read. The writing is bound to work better, though, if you can train yourself to forget all that, and just focus on the next sentence, and the next. John Steinbeck said: "Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps."
Thank you as ever for this. Took me a while to get to this one due to end-of-term busyness (schoolteaching). I found much wisdom here. Here's another quote along similar lines from a famous Jew: "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? [...] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (NB Not 'don't think at *all* about tomorrow', a point you make, but don't *worry* about it!)
Thanks, Faenon - great to hear from you and I appreciate you making the time even amid end of term chaos. Yes, it's always a balancing act, isn't it? I have felt myself getting entirely out of balance since my new book came out, worrying about how it's going to fare in the world, but I think I'm finding my feet again now. And so we carry on, like you say, one day at a time. I hope you have a good break and win some time for writing...
I think this is part of why I enjoy writing in a serial format: it keeps me rooted in the present, week by week.
Really enjoying catching up on your posts, Tim.
I totally get what you’re saying, all the time I get myself stressed by thinking up how I will have to respond to things that haven’t even happened yet. Though that being said I wouldn’t mind time traveling to October 😉
"I've suffered many troubles in my life, most of which never happened," said Mark Twain, maybe. Yes, it's a very human thing to get ahead of ourselves. Sometimes I think I've got a grip on it, and at others I'm spending most of my time in the future. Oh well, a work in progress. Thanks for making contact, Kim, I really appreciate your blog posts about my first book - you're very kind and a great reader to have along for the journey!
Thanks, Simon. Yes, I can really see the appeal of writing a serial - the immediacy of it must feel great. And you're getting feedback from readers straight away. Writing a book is such a long process that it's hard not to keep looking ahead and dreaming of it being finished, and read. The writing is bound to work better, though, if you can train yourself to forget all that, and just focus on the next sentence, and the next. John Steinbeck said: "Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps."
Thank you as ever for this. Took me a while to get to this one due to end-of-term busyness (schoolteaching). I found much wisdom here. Here's another quote along similar lines from a famous Jew: "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? [...] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (NB Not 'don't think at *all* about tomorrow', a point you make, but don't *worry* about it!)
Thanks, Faenon - great to hear from you and I appreciate you making the time even amid end of term chaos. Yes, it's always a balancing act, isn't it? I have felt myself getting entirely out of balance since my new book came out, worrying about how it's going to fare in the world, but I think I'm finding my feet again now. And so we carry on, like you say, one day at a time. I hope you have a good break and win some time for writing...