Describe your writing practice?
Until a few months ago, I had always worked a full-time job, and shoehorned in my own writing wherever I could; usually early in the morning or on the weekend. Freelancing has theoretically changed that, in the sense that I can organise my time however I choose, but I’m still adjusting to it. To be honest, the past two years have been fairly unproductive in terms of my own practice—my attention span, energy, and enthusiasm for writing and reading have taken a beating during the pandemic, but I know it’ll return, so I am trying to be patient with myself, and to evict internalised ideas about productivity and merit.
My attention span, energy, and enthusiasm for writing and reading have taken a beating during the pandemic, so I am trying to be patient with myself.
In some ways, I think I’m lucky to have always been a working writer: I rarely procrastinate, because I’m accustomed to making the most of small, weird slivers of time. It also means I have lots of time to sit with ideas and stories before I get them down. It’s not that I’m a great plotter or planner, but I don’t spend much time in front of the laptop hashing out problems of structure or character because by the time I open up the draft, I’ve been sitting with those knots for so long that they’re mostly untangled.
I don’t really know what my practice will look like when—if—things return to normal. Generally, I like a timetable and a to-do list, and my brain works much better first thing in the morning, so maybe my ideal day would be: get up, make coffee, go for a run, focus on my own writing before midday, and switch over to freelance writing after lunch.
Has your writing practice changed over the years? If so, how?
I don’t think it’s changed very much at all, but I try to take it more seriously as it becomes more of a job. In the past it’s sometimes been difficult to prioritise writing because it feels like a side gig. It still is, most of the time; but when a publisher has sufficient faith in your work to offer you a contract for its publication, it becomes something professional, not just a hobby.
I think I’ve also become more private with my drafts. I workshopped my first novel throughout three years of TAFE, and had shown several of the stories in my second book to friends and peers. But I didn’t share my most recent novel with anyone—my editor Alaina was the first person to read it. I think with age and experience I feel surer of what I want to say, and how I want it to sound.
