블로그 아카이브 - Writing from Alter - Space 
 My new novel is not going well . It doesn ' t help that I haven ' t yet established any kind of routine . So far , all I ' ve had is weekends and , apart from the first weekend when I felt elated just to get started , they have not proved particularly fruitful . I ' ve taken a week off work this week to try and get started but even that has been thwarted - it ' s the first day back at school after half term and my daughter has decided to feel ill and stay at home . Call me selfish , call me what you like , but sometimes as an adult you just want a bit of Me Time - I get VERY little and I was SO looking forward to some time when I just don ' t have to talk to anyone . Not talking to anyone is quite conducive to the creative process , I ' ve found , but of course , it ' s virtually impossible . Secondly , the hammering and drilling in the flat downstairs is ongoing . It ' s very possible they will never end . And reading what I ' ve written so far . ..... I ' m starting to feel a smidgen of despair . It really is very bad . Sometimes I wish that instead of a writer , I was a truck driver . Not much need to talk to anyone then , either . 
 This is where I work when I ' m not being a writer . 
 Nascence V 
 It ' s been a rough week . It started with my hurting my back on Monday and suffering through days of pain . By Thursday I had developed a bad cold too , so awful by Friday that I had to find courage from somewhere to ask whether I could go home from work a little early . It ' s been half term too and I ' ve managed to do none of the things planned . My novel seemed to slide away into some unreachable place and when I sat down this morning , it was with no confidence . But Chapter Two has begun and I ' ve got down about 1000 words - I ' m not a word counter but some people are . It does give an indication of how it ' s going . SLOW , I ' d say ! But slow and sticky and unsure is better than nothing at all . Nothing that is written is in stone so it can all be edited into something smooth and excellent . .... but later , when I ' ve got a feel for it . One thing about having written and completed many novels is the confidence that I can do it again . I just wouldn ' t like to put a deadline on it . 
 Nascence IV 
 For the third time , I ' ve reached the same place in the same chapter . It ' s been a slow , sticky start but I haven ' t been at all concerned . Every hour spent writing is so rare that it ' s precious . It doesn ' t matter what I get done , as long as I ' m there , in the woods , with the trees . I really need to change my schedule at work . After half term ( not expecting to get any writing done other than the weekends ) , I ' ve taken a week off work and will hopefully be able to feel my way more deeply into the story . But a lot depends on the building works going on in a neighbouring flat which has been driving me insane with endless drilling and hammering , let alone the dust clouds all this produces that floats up the stairs and coats everything , even the walls . All going well , I ' ll change my work shift to afternoons and so have the mornings free to write . An afternoon shift in the main library is not ideal - it ' s far too busy to do my work properly but some sacrifices need to be made . I should get a new section soon and if it ' s in the IOA , an afternoon shift will be ideal . 
 Nascence III 
 A really lumbering start . I ' ve rewritten the prologue several times and it ' s still like curdled custard . However , I ' m not concerned as it ' s VERY early days yet . I haven ' t found the novel ' s voice and hardly know my main character . All this takes time and I ' m trying not to be impatient . It ' s also quite hard to work with building works going on in a flat downstairs and my flat is very cold , even with the heating on . These and other obstacles are just there for me to crawl over , though , because even if it ' s only a tiny bit at a time , a few lines will eventually turn into a novel , bloodied fingernails notwithstanding . .. 
 Nascence II 
 Have decided I need a prologue . Dreamy page and a half becomes prologue , rewritten , faux fantasy style caps dropped but dreaminess retained . Chapter One starting to take shape - mentally , at least . Take energetic caffeinated walk around Russell Square ( several times ) for an hour . Suddenly very warm - sun hot - what happened to the big freeze on Saturday when I was writing wrapped in a blanket ? 
 Blank screen . Butterflies . But the first para had already been written during the pre - writing period . Stared at it for half an hour . Finally got a page and a half of single line spacing Georgia 12 of faux fantasy style down . Chapter One has begun .