Earlier this year I decided to write a book. I knew I’d need some quiet time to do that, so one of the things I did was find an office space that would work for me and my writing.
It was a nice quiet place, by the river. I rented an office for one day a week with a plan to use that day productively, to dedicate it to writing my book.
I started out using this office on a Friday, the day I already set out for myself. But after a few weeks I realised that this had broken my Friday routine – and I liked my Fridays. A walk, maybe a cup of tea or brunch, and some writing time for a couple of hours.
The office didn’t work for that routine.
And I found that even though I was sat in a nice quiet room by myself I didn’t feel inspired to write. I needed to walk first. And that actually I didn’t need to be in a totally quiet room with nobody else there. When I’ve been in the right mood, I’ve written many blog posts in cafés.
I tried a different day of the week.
But that didn’t work either. Because other things encroached on my day, needed to be done first before I could get on with the writing I wanted to do. So by the time I got to my writing I’d almost run out of hours and had to pack up for the day.
So I stopped renting that office. It was in a lovely setting, but it wasn’t helping me write my book.
And then of course there was my process.
I’d decided to write a book. I’ve published books before, and they’ve either been collections of poems or creative witting, or they’ve been collections of blog posts. This one, I decided, was going to be a “proper” book. With a plan, and chapters.
But the other thing I realised after a few months of not making much progress was that my writing doesn’t work like that. It just doesn’t respond to a formal plan or list of chapters.
So very recently I decided to let go of that. I’m going to let go of having to write a book in a logical and planned way. I’m going back to what’s always worked for me before. Writing blog posts and then compiling them into a collection in the form of a book once I have seen a theme emerge. (I published a collection about my year of being creative on maternity leave and another about my journey to becoming a freelancer. You can find both of those here to purchase and read. (Amazon affiliate link))
I realised that I’ve actually covered quite a few of the topics I might want to include in a book. And that I do have a loose idea of what I want this collection to look like. What I want it to be about.
So I have a list of topic ideas that I might refer to if I feel like it. And I’m sure I’ll spontaneously come up with ideas for posts as time goes on. Eventually I’ll feel as if I have enough blog posts to make a cohesive story of some kind. And I’ll collect them together with an introduction and perhaps some extra content.
But I’ve learned a valuable lesson this year. Creativity simply doesn’t come when you ask it to or in the way you want it to. I have a writing process that works, so I shouldn’t try and change it to fit in with what I think I should be doing. If it flows when I do it a certain way, just let it.
How does your creative process work? Does it also have a mind of its own?
