I should be writing! What stops you getting words onto the page? -- Linda Strachan

How often have you started something that isn't your 'work in progress', and thought... I should be writing?

There are so many things that get in the way of doing the one thing that I want to be doing - that is, spending time with my characters, getting the words written, editing and working them up, living in the story - and yet I find it is often the last thing on the list of urgent things to do.



Time ticks by relentlessly.  I find it is even worse when I don't actually have a specific deadline. Deadlines focus my mind and grab my attention! without them it is easy to look up and find another hour, morning, or whole day has gone by. 


Yet here I am writing a blog.... or updating my website... or facebook... or twitter... or answering and writing emails.....




 ... or travelling around the country, visiting schools, talking about writing, running writing workshops, and there is also the time spent in the organising and planning that all these things require.

Going for walks, definitely something to be recommended, and it is thinking time .... if I am on my own!

Doubtful Sound - New Zealand

Holidays and travelling add to that toolbox of images and textures that add tremendously to your writing.....

Friends and family also make up an important part of my life and those are definitely times to be treasured.

These interactions also add to the understanding of the emotions and difficulties life throws at people, that any writer needs to create real and interesting characters.

But while doing all these other things, part of me is longing to get back into Tuscany (my shed) and close the door on the world. I want to get back to working on the book, getting into my characters' lives, and finding out what they have been doing while I've been away!

 Don't get me wrong I love all the people and the varied things that make up my life but sometimes I think... I really should be writing. So I'm not here, now. No excuses.  I'm off out there.. writing!

What takes you from your writing?





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Linda Strachan is the author of over 60 books for all ages from picture books to teenage novels and a writing handbook   Writing For Children 
Her latest YA novel is Don't Judge Me  

Patron of Reading to Liberton High School, Edinburgh 

website:  www.lindastrachan.com
blog: Bookwords