School is back, cricket season has ended, and I’m sat behind my keyboard. But, my brain just isn’t quite in the headspace to get writing again.
A lot has happened over the last few months - I’ve re-edited a book I wrote a few years ago which is about finding Montezuma’s lost treasure. This was great fun and easy to jump in and out of whatever I was doing over a busy cricket summer. I love the core story of this book and was able to tighten it up and add some additional information to make it flow better. There’s still work to be done, but it will have to go onto the back burner for a little while longer. I will definitely look to publish it once Book 2 of Tess & Eddie is out into the world.
I’ve also been reading as many books as I can to keep my mind alive. You can never underestimate how valuable reading is when you are trying to write something yourself. You don’t ‘copy’ other people’s work, but by reading many and varied books you start to get a flow of how to write, how things are phrased, and your own imagination begins to take note. The cogs in your brain start to turn as you work out how to fill a gap, or a new direction a plot can go. And it’s really exciting.
I’m not quite there yet with returning to Tess & Eddie Book 2 - I’m currently re-reading through the first nine chapters to remember where I was and where I wanted to go - and to find Tess’s ‘voice’ again.
But perhaps the biggest writer’s block I have is also one of the saddest. I was so shocked that Dave Shephard passed away suddenly. A wonderful illustrator and cricket fan, he believed in Tess and Eddie from the moment he read the story and brought all the characters to life so perfectly. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. He will be missed.
Unfortunately, this leaves me not really knowing how to move forward. From the very start my Wishlist was an illustrator who understood cricket and it took a lot of searching to find Dave. Now I must search again for someone to believe in me and my stories and recapture the characters.
But, I will find someone and Tess and Eddie will live on.
So, back to my notes and planning, and then to recommence writing - 'cause the words won’t write themselves…
Jenni
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