Mother Writes: Productivity and web of opportunities

Thursday, 29 November 2012

Productivity and web of opportunities

My sister, the talented violinist

It's thursday afternoon, the sharp winter sunlight is streaming through the windows and I'm thinking about how much I'm going to miss my writing days when my mother leaves for her extended trip in Australia and New Zealand in January. She's been absolutely amazing these past couple of years looking after my children every thursday. If it weren't for her, I don't know how I would have got my novel written (Of course I would have found a way, but it would've been much harder) or just had days like today when I've been really productive. I've written a whole new story for Liar's League - a great monthly live fiction night whereby actors read out writers' stories. Last time I sent them anything my story made it to the short list, so let's see what they make of this new one. Fingers and toes crossed.

I'm slightly terrified at the prospect of performing in public so this would suit me brilliantly, despite all the drama and plays I used to do at school. I am just very, very out of practice. Speaking of which, I went to see my sister and her husband, the Steinberg Duo (violin and piano) perform a lunchtime recital in Central London yesterday. As always, I was completely in awe and inspired by their performance, not to mention the hours of hard work that precedes it. They are planning to make their first commercial CD in the new year and have used a creative crowd funding website to raise the money which just makes me think afresh about how powerful a tool the web can be in all kinds of creative endeavours, if used the right way. An example of an equivalent to this in the world of books is Unbound - here, the public can pledge to support books. And so, motivated by my sister and her husband's performance yesterday and her success with her crowd funding project, and also feeling more productive than normal somehow (possibly a decent night's sleep?!), I also wrote and sent a proposal off to Unbound this morning. So, once again, fingers and toes and pigtails crossed.

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Mother Writes...What's it all about?

When I was little, I imagined with the supreme confidence of a child that when I was all grown up, I'd be a celebrated writer. And by grown-up, I probably meant about eighteen. The concept of even reaching the age of thirty, let alone beyond, was off my radar and my seven-year old self shuddered at the ominious thought of not having published at least several novels by that grand old age.

Fast forward to the present. Here I am, age thirty-five, wife to a lovely hubby and mother to three gorgeous children. Now, am I writer? My seven-year old self would hold a very strong opinion on this: No, because I don't have a single published novel to my name. But I'm pleased to say that now I'm all grown-up, I'm also a bit more measured and realistic in my expectations of myself. Don't get me wrong - I love my seven-year old self for believing I could achieve that much but I have, over the years, come to an important conclusion:

If you dance, you are a dancer. If you paint, you are a painter. And if you write, you are a writer.

But we have to actually do it, not just talk about doing it. It's all too easy to procrastinate about our creative endeavours and that's all I ask of myself now: to create; to write. And if I'm lucky enough to get something published (which I'm pleased to say that I have done, in the form of short stories, reviews and articles), well, that's a bonus. And that's what this blog offers: little slices of honesty on my plate of life as mother, wife and creator of words. It's often not easy to juggle all three, particularly dealing with bouts of chronic insomnia. But I have to trust this is all part of the journey, and challenges are what make life interesting.