My first con

No, I haven't cheated a little old lady out of her life savings, I've just finished attending Eastercon, the British National Science Fiction Convention. It was in Glasgow this year, which was handy for me as I could pop in on the train every day rather than shelling out for a hotel room.

I was pretty nervous, because I only knew one other person who was attending (the soon-to-be-published Susan Murray, more about her in future, I'm sure). A few folk I chatted to on Twitter would be there, but apart from that I would be walking into a mass of strangers. Urk.

What I found was this: lots of friendly, interesting people who were enthusiastic about a wide variety of aspects of science fiction. I've made new friendships, cemented older ones and made plans to see people at future conventions.

The weekend was packed with interesting talks and panels about science, fiction, and where the two meet. I learned a lot, thought a lot, had a number of new novel ideas, laughed a lot, fell more in love with the genre, met authors and publishers I admire, and genuinely had one of the most amazing weekends I can remember. This con will definitely be the first of many!

Getting Too Comfortable

This is the first of my *proper* post-Festival of Writing blogs, so I thought I'd begin at the beginning. After all, it's a very good place to start. (Yes, I'm mixing my references, but it's my blog so I'll do what I want.)

On the Saturday morning, the first event was a keynote address from Adele Parks. Now, I must confess, I have never read any of her books, but I will be making the effort to. She spoke about her journey to being the successful published author she is today, and was a compelling speaker. There was one small point in particular that really resonated with me, however, and that was when she talked about her writing dropping off for a little while because she became too comfortable in her life as it was.

In the last six months I've gone from being really fired up about my writing and its potential to completely avoiding adding anything to the story. Before going to the Festival, I actually said to myself 'If nobody's keen on this one, I'm just giving up'. (Thankfully, someone did like it, but that story's for another day...) I thought this change in attitude came because I was being realistic - if I hadn't found any success so far, was it really likely to happen? Might as well just call it quits and not bother any more.

No! I had such a lightbulb moment last weekend when Adele Parks said those two words, "too comfortable" - that's exactly the problem I've been having! I enjoy my day job, which is more than many people can say. My little flat is really nice, and I like living where I do. The rest of my life is pretty good, and I don't have many worries about what I'm going to do or how I'm going to improve my situation. Sounds cushy, right? Not as far as my writing is concerned. For many people, maybe there isn't such a thing as "too comfortable", but for any artist there's got to be some sort of friction, some kind of working edge that's pushing you on to create, to change the world as you see it.

So, if my life is comfortable, how am I going to keep bringing myself back to my laptop and writing? I think an awareness of the situation will definitely make a difference - then, when I am coming up with endless excuses not to write, I can find a way to squash those excuses and just keep at it. Making a list of reasons why I write and why I want my novels to be published is another way I'm trying to keep myself going. I'm still riding high on the positive atmosphere of the Festival, so right now it's easy to write, but when that dies off I'll have to keep reminding myself that my life shouldn't be comfortable until I run out of stories to tell.

Writing goals for 2013

A new year, a new opportunity to work towards my writing goals. In 2012 I learnt a massive amount by taking an editing course, attending a writing festival, and picking up hints and tips from writers, editors and agents via the internet and social media. This year I want to make sure that I make the most of every opportunity and continue to develop as a writer, so here are my goals.

1. Work hard

This may seem to be self-explanatory, but I have sometimes been guilty of spending far too much time talking about writing than actually doing it. Nothing is going to happen in my writing career without a lot of effort, so I'm not going to slack off this year.

2. Spend time creating an excellent submission package

I'm not going to say that this is the year I'll get an agent and a publisher (although I hope it is), rather that this is the year I'll work on my novel, synopsis and submission letter so they're all of a high standard.

3. Take opportunities to meet other writers

Social media makes it easy to interact with other writers, as well as people in the publishing industry, but it's not the same as actually getting together in person. Last year I really enjoyed the writing festival I attended, as well as gaining a lot from it, so this year I'm going to keep my eye out for similar opportunities and attend as many as I can afford.

So those are my writing goals for 2013, and I'll blog about how they're going as the year progresses. What writing goals have you set yourself this year?

Give creativity a chance!

I once heard someone say that the majority of people who think they have insomnia don't actually go to bed and try to sleep. This week I've wondered if the same thing applies to some people with writer's block.

For a couple of weeks now I've only had three or four new scenes to write to complete the rewrite of She Made Me, but it has felt like one of the most insurmountable challenges I have faced. Maybe there was a part of me that didn't want to finish it, because I know how much editing work will come next. I think the biggest problem, however, has simply been that I haven't sat down at my laptop and attempted to write. I've come home from work and thought "Oh I'm too tired to write," or "I can't think of what needs to happen in that scene". I've put off writing certain scenes, skipping over them because they're not quite clear in my mind, to the extent that I've left them until last. When thinking about them, I know what I need to write, but I just can't think it through.

In these situations, however, I've not put myself in a position that's conducive to writing. I've been thinking about writing whilst doing other things, things that have taken up a lot of my mind and haven't allowed me to think through the scene. But above all, I haven't actually sat my behind on my desk chair and attempted to do it. I haven't given the creative part of my brain a chance to come to the forefront and act. How is it ever going to get written if I don't open my laptop? How am I ever going to sleep if I don't go to bed?

Today, I sat down at my laptop. I opened the scene I've been struggling with, the scene that would finish this rewrite. I wrote. I finished it.