I have found something I want to be competitive in! It will take a lot of time to get this writing right. Time and practice but that’s ok. Having written book one in 6 months I decided to try and write book two in eight weeks. Just under ten thousand words a week should be pretty easy, I thought.
Getting in the flow and staying there is the tricky part. I can go to a cafe and get far too embroiled with the goings on around me. I can let my imagination really go and then go completely off tangent. Then all of a sudden the magic happens. My fingers are typing away and I am not actually thinking about what comes next. The characters take over and tell their story. For a split second I force myself back to reality to grab a sip of coffee and revel in this fantastic flow. I smile and then continue.
I have three weeks left to complete the competition set by myself for myself. I’m pretty much on track. I start to google how long people take to write a novel. It varies considerably.
The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas by John Boyne was said to have been written in two and a half days! Jealousy rushes through me.
Eight weeks is far too long!
Where has this competitive spirit come from? I would never say I was the competitive sort. Mainly because I’m not that bothered what people think. Not ‘they’ anyway. I realise this needs to change. I will need reviews, opinions and critique on my work.
At my first job in London at a well known bank. I remember getting to know one of the managers,
‘What do they think of me?’ He asked whilst we sat in the smoking room together.
‘They think you’re clever’ (he was a young Oxbridge grad) ‘I don’t think anyone knows exactly what you do though’
‘Do they think I’m arrogant?’
‘Slightly yes, you do have this superiority as you walk around the office’
‘Thanks’
He was already so near the top why did he worry about what people thought? I never understood this until now.
He needed to know what he was doing right and what he was doing wrong. I think it’s time I got a few reviews on my book. Maybe just one more read through over Christmas!
My book Sharks & Lovers is available to download here: