Show Your Working is a regular column exploring how some of our favourite writers get things done. In this instalment, we take a peek into the writing routine of debut author, lawyer and disability advocate Sam Drummond. His memoir, Broke, is out this month by Affirm Press.
Images: Supplied.
What does your workspace look like?
The world of ergonomics is not made for my body. I’ve had plenty of assessments but the adjustments would probably look like something resembling Van Gogh’s bedroom, just with added footstools. Real-life perspectives aren’t meant for my shorter arms and legs, or my curvy spine. So I invariably end up on the couch or lying on my front, on a bed. Sometimes you’ve got to come to terms with the fact that you know your body best.
I do have a desk. It’s an old roll-top desk that we rejuvenated with a lick of white paint. I looked back at a picture of it from 18 March 2020. There were no tea stains, no piles of used notebooks, no lines of birthday cards across the top. It’s a small reminder that we’ve absorbed so many shocks over the past few years. Sometimes we have to take stock and set aside time to take care of ourselves. Including tidying up our desks!
Sam’s desk in 2020. Image: Supplied.
Are you an analog or digital writer?
I would love to say completely analog. I try. I have post-it notes around my workspace. A pen and paper next to my bed. But there are times when there is no choice but to write something on my phone’s notes or that memory will quickly fade.
When it comes to writing, I’m digital all the way. I remember sitting at uni just as laptops were starting take over. I stubbornly wrote notes by hand the whole way through. I’m not sure I’m organised enough to do that for 70,000 words though.
I have post-it notes around my workspace. A pen and paper next to my bed.
What sort of software and hardware do you use to get your work done?
My ideal writing set-up would be a notepad, a jar of pens and a view overlooking nature. That’s not really possible when you’re juggling work and a kid and city life.
I was asked ‘What program are you using?’ halfway through writing Broke. I was confused that there could be any answer other than Word. But the questioner was as confused as I was that I wasn’t using some form of artificial intelligence to clean up my writing. I quipped to a group I’m in of 2023 debut authors that our cohort might be the last fully human group. I was only half joking. Given the group is purely online, it might not even be 100 per cent human now, for all I know.
I do think you lose something when the relationship between the writer and the written word has technology between it. Storytelling is such a significant part of what it is to be human. As is making mistakes and learning from them. When you lose fallibility in language, I have no doubt that you also lose a part of your inherent creativity.
Left: Sam’s desk in 2022. Right: Sam’s couch, where he wrote most of Broke. Images: Supplied.
Describe your writing practice?
Broke was written almost entirely between the hours of 8 to 11 pm, after toddler bedtime. The nearer I got to my own self-imposed bedtime, the more efficient I became.
I did write a brief chapter outline but, being my own life, I knew where I wanted to end and had a pretty good idea of how to get there. I started with a goal of 300 words a day. That quickly became 500. After it became clear that I needed to comb through the draft a few more times, that figure became 1000 words a night.
How do you navigate your various kinds of work?
I have to be honest—I lost a year of socialising because of Broke. My apologies to all the friends who thought I’d gone missing.
I had a job that I was at three days a week and parented the other two, plus I had a couple of side jobs. Weekends were mostly family time, with the same nighttime window reserved for writing. Part of the story of Broke is about the sheer volume of time I spent watching TV as a kid. That was a helpful reminder that having a subscription to Netflix was not a priority in the 12 months it took to write the book.
Has your writing practice changed over the years? If so, how?
I used to lay awake at night, working myself up about an issue until it burst out in the form of the written word. I’ve probably calmed with the benefit of age. I might wake up and think of a line, but I’m not stewing on it all night.
I tend to have a hypothesis about a particular event or issue. I write to interrogate that; to work out the logic behind that view. I know I’ve done an okay job when there’s a clear line of logic through the piece. And sometimes, that logic takes me to a different place than where I first thought I was.
You lose something when the relationship between writer and written word has technology between it.
How do you encourage inspiration to strike?
My first drafts are woeful, a fact that took years to work out. I just have to keep writing and get the words down. I know that no matter how woeful the first draft is, it is the skeleton that will form the full body of work at the end.
Repetitive exercise can help in beating out a path to creativity. For some people, that might be running or cycling or yoga. For me, it’s swimming. After warming up, there’s a sweet spot in which I get into a rhythm and my mind becomes blank. It was in that space that I did much of the thinking for Broke.
What’s next for you?
Once the adrenaline of releasing Broke has worn off, I have a contribution to the anthology Teacher, Teacher that comes out 25 July. My chapter is about my PE teacher who appears in Broke. He’s retired now, and I think he’s pretty chuffed to be getting a bit more recognition after he’s hung up his teaching boots.
There currently seems to be a non-stop stream of books arriving at my doorstep. It’s a nice feeling that all the hard work is now in hard copy!
