'My Writing Day' – featured in Writing Magazine

I’m pleased to tell you that I am featured in this month’s edition of Writing Magazine (March). The article is about ‘My Writing Day’, although there really isn’t any such thing, so my contribution ended up being a bit more general than that.

Sadly, there is no online version of the full article, but you can always order the print edition or just click on the image above to read a scanned version. I’ve also pulled out some of the more interesting parts and included them below.

On finding time to work now I have children:

I’ve tried to embrace the idea that all you really need is a keyboard and a screen. I try and snatch pockets of time throughout the day, even if it means working on my mobile phone or having to stop before I feel like I’ve even begun. Writing is often about momentum and children make that very difficult to maintain. Anything I can do to keep going is a great help.

On sacrifice and getting stuck in:

It’s my belief that half the battle for writers is getting used to the idea of sacrifice. It’s impossible to maintain a busy social life, any kind of job or study, and then write something, like a novel, too. At some point, you have to say no to one or more of those other things and get stuck into the writing. It’s not easy, but the only way to juggle effectively is to put one of the balls down and make things easier for yourself.

On writing on an iPad:

Writing on an iPad is great because it means I can only access one app at a time. There’s no flipping back and forth between email and social media. I just go to my writing and that fills the screen.

Thank you to Lynne Hackles for asking me to contribute to Writing Magazine. Let me know on Twitter if you happen to pick up the print edtion!