Describe your writing practice?
I need my routine to function. I get up and start my day by going to the gym and that kind of clears my head of everything that I overthink about. I have strict rules about managing my freelance life and enforce a 9–5 schedule around it, so I don’t fall into the trap of going out for breakfast and avoiding my desk all day. It also helps me manage how many jobs I can take on at any time.
As soon as I am at my desk, I take a look at my weekly and monthly calendar and write a short-lead and long-lead to-do list and work off that.
With writing anything, from articles, interviews, commercial content, training manuals, podcasts or for myself, I always start with a structure and take it from there. Then at least there is something on the page and I know what I am writing about.
Editing happens at the end of every section, whether it is an article or a chapter.
On occasion, I will write down scenes or moments as they pop into my head. They end up everywhere from a folder in my computer stuffed full of forgotten ideas, my notes app or the back of an envelope on my desk.
Has your writing practice changed over the years? If so, how?
Back at university, I did a lot of free writing. It was great to get into the practice of writing, but I found I never finished anything I had grand designs on. These days, before I start writing, the first thing I do is develop a structure. It works for anything from a few hundred words to tens of thousands of words and it makes me ruthless with editing myself. In some cases, I might make changes as I am writing, but the overall structure is still in place and helps me finish (and within deadline).
It’s a necessary evil that I’ve come to love because I am always working on multiple projects at once.
The hardest thing to do is start. Even when I think what I have written is trash, I can at least improve on it. But I can’t improve on nothing.
How do you encourage inspiration to strike?
I don’t think of myself as a particularly inspired person. I envy people who have a million ideas swirling around their head all the time. I am the type of person who has one idea and obsessively builds on it until it is fully formed. I think it is why I am so dependent on structure. If I have scheduled in time to write and I am not feeling it, I still force myself to write. If I don’t write for a while, then I’m not writing fit. The same way that if I don’t drink for a while, I’m not piss fit. The hardest thing to do is start, and even when I think what I have written is trash, I can at least edit what’s on the page and improve on it. But I can’t come back to it the next day and improve on nothing if I decide not to write because I am not feeling inspired.
What’s next for you?
I can’t say anything about the projects I’m working on, but I will be appearing at OzAsia’s In Other Words program in Adelaide on 6 November. In the meantime, I will also turn my attention back to my newsletter which I have neglected over the promo period for Raised by Wolves.
Raised By Wolves is available now from your local independent bookseller.
