The 500 Word Limit and Other Ideas
In which I reveal a cover, give a writing tip and agree with Kurt Vonnegut
Hello cherished subscribers! Welcome to my substack! I’ve made a few changes from my last mailing list. They are -
I’m actually going to write it this time
There’s going to be a bit more focus on writing as a craft and profession as opposed to random self promotion
There are going to be two lists.
A free list which will receive a monthly roundup of what I’ve been reading, watching, writing and up to, with some book recommendations and writing advice thrown in.
A paid list which will receive a weekly newsletter. This will include detailed writing advice, workshop exercises, a writing agony aunt column. LOTS of stuff. I’ll be putting this content out to everyone through August to give you a taster, then charging £5 per month.
Okay. Okay? Let’s go.
First up, I have BIG NEWS, which is that my next novel is finished and out in November and has a finished cover and everything. Look, look!! Isn’t she a beauty? You can pre order her, if you like, or simply admire. I’ll be talking more about the process of cover designs and titles in a later letter.
The month in reading (and watching and listening)
I teach creative writing at Oxford University, so this month I’ve read 18 student portfolios and nothing published. And the portfolios were bloody great actually, but I can't tell you about them. I watched The Menu (great, much funnier and less horrifying than I was expecting) and Good Omens 2 (SO GREAT. Just delicious chaotic fantasy romance). I tried to listen to a podcast about WW2 but sadly it was so boring I nearly fell asleep on my bike and had to stop. I think I need something more focussed on the home front and less about different types of planes. The last thing I read that I loved was Lessons In Chemistry, but we’ve all read that by now, haven’t we? I read it for my book club and it’s the perfect book club book - whips along, very clear characterisation and lots to talk about. It’s probably time for me to start reading just loads of murder mysteries, but the gloomy weather is making me pine for gothic. Recommendations on a postcard!
The month in writing
Because I’ve been SO BUSY folks, seriously, you would not believe, if I owe you an email this is why, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it, I’ve had limited writing time. BUT. I have been doing a thing that I’m so pleased with and really recommend. It is I write a MAXIMUM of 500 words per day. I write every day but even if it’s just 100 words, that’s okay, whatever, but I am NOT ALLOWED to write more than 500. And it’s working SO well!! I am so hungry for my 500 words, and I’m in the world of the story and thinking about it a lot. I don’t think it’s sensible for me as a permanent strategy (500 words is a bit of a waste of a writing day, for me, and I hope to have big stretches of time in the library back in my life soon) but for busy spells I’ve found it an absolutely lifesaver.
Writing tip - for the next week, try writing every day, but give yourself an absolute limit of 500 words. Writing 10 words per day is absolutely acceptable, but 0 is not and neither is 501. How does this change things for you? Does it make you feel keener to get back to your desk? Does it make it easier to pick back up when you do?
The month in life
DID I MENTION I’ve been busy? So busy! A freelance life is so feast and famine and lately I’ve found myself doing a LOT of paid work and very little writing work. This has also meant I’ve been able to do so much of the messing about that I normally happily slot into the working week (going for a daytime swim, meeting a friend for coffee, doing childcare on Tuesdays and eating cake while Rowan flings herself around a church hall) which, as unnecessary as it is to cash generation, brings me deep joy. Kurt Vonnegut once said that “we are here on earth to fart around” and I feel the truth of that more and more the older I get and the more efficient I get. In my early adult life, MAN was I good at doing nothing. My life was one long Diet Coke break and it was glorious. Now I am closing on 40 and the kid and the decade of cramming writing in around the edges have made me just so great at time management and I wonder if that’s a shame. I wonder if I should get one of those unlimited cinema passes and go and see whatever’s on every Friday afternoon, even if it looks like it’ll suck. Especially if it does. I could, you know. I work for myself. I can do what I want! Why don’t I?
That one was rhetorical. No answers on a postcard please.
And that’s it! Thank you so much for your precious time. The next newsletter will be out next Friday and it’ll be on how to get an agent, my most FA’d Q in workshops.