Honesty! A friend read some of my first book (a memoir style) and said I was very brave to put it all out there. I didn't think it was brave, I don't know how else to write if you don't draw upon your own experiences - even when writing a fiction. Other elements for me include enough description to draw a reader in and allow them to see the scene around them, empathetic characters, even if they're bad we have to believe in them and invest our reading time into them because we can understand their thoughts and feelings. Finally, for me anyway, I like to be able to have a little escapism so enjoy writing that can evoke another time and place for me to inhabit for a while.
The last eighteen months I have been trying to focus properly on writing and I agree that there have indeed been some emotionally draining parts to this pursuit. Times when I can't find the words to write, times when I cannot sleep because a particular piece of writing is unwinding in my head and struggling to figure itself out. Initially I read a lot about writers advising to write every day and although I think that is good advice if you can manage it, I did find myself feeling guilty if I could not. I have now adopted a more relaxed attitude and that in itself has allowed the words to surface more. So some days I write, some days I don't. Some days I write a lot, some days it takes half a day to get one or two sentences correct. I know now that it's okay to follow that and also to go with the flow of where the writing takes me, even if it means putting one project on the shelf for a while and returning to it later on.
I have dabbled in writing from a young age, mostly poetry and script writing. Over the years my scripts have been used both at the schools I taught in and at a local drama group. I have also had a couple of poems published in different magazines in the past. However, it is only in the last couple of years that I have been in a position to focus properly upon my writing. I started blogging two years ago and the responses that I got from that and the therapeutic effects from doing the writing gave me an impetus to give the whole writing thing a proper effort. Since then I have published two books and am now working on a fiction piece. Wish me luck!
