Reflections

or...How not to write a novel

On my morning walk, I solved a problem.  

It may be the release of endorphins, or the time I spend staring at stuff while I get my breath back, but my aged brain works differently in the fresh air, especially when listening to bird song. 

Thanks for reading Jeannie’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

I have an assignment to complete which insists I plan the final creative portfolio for my course*, and that I do so by thinking seriously about plot, point of view, style and a whole lot of other stuff that I mostly ignore when I am in flow and just getting the words down on the page. It’s  a bit like tidying a drawer - I hate squandering time rummaging around for what I need, but I’m blowed if I’ll waste precious time tidying it.  And yet, when I do, the sense of achievement is so satisfying. 

This morning, I sorted out some BIG issues with my novel.  I set myself a number of key questions to answer. I now know what I don’t know and acknowledging that may be the end of ignorance, if not the arrival of wisdom. 

I wouldn’t go as far as saying my novel is as tidy as my cutlery drawer, but I’m a lot clearer about a number of things - and that means I’m back in flow.  

TODAY: 3.7 miles and 1200 words



* MLitt at the University of Glasgow