The Writer's IF - with apologies to Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when every agent
Rejects your work without a kindly word;
If you can trust yourself to go on writing
When publishers ignore you by the herd;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting
For months or even years for a reply;
Or, being scorned repeatedly, don’t waver
In your attempt to catch a reader’s eye...
  
If you can keep your dreams and go on writing
Five hundred or a thousand words a day;
If you can meet with five stars or with one star
And value what both those reviewers say;
If you can bear to hear the words you’ve written
Mocked and reviled by critics young and old
And see the stuff you hate sell by the million
While yours stay on the bookshop shelves unsold...
  
If you can make a pile of your advances (ha!)
And lose them in the weekend’s lottery toss;
Work on your novel in between the phone calls
And never get caught at it by your boss;
If you can force your laptop, mouse and keyboard
To go on working even when they’re old;
And keep on typing when the muse is hiding,
Your confidence is broken and you’re cold...

If you can sit in shops and keep your patience
And not feel daft when no one stops to look;
If you can smile when, after two hours’ waiting,
No one has stopped to buy a single book;
If neither friends nor family can hurt you
When they suggest it’s time to drop your pen
Then welcome to this crazy world of writers –
You’ve proved your worth, you’re totally mad, my friend. 




Rosalie Warren
November 2012

Things I knew when I started writing that I wish I knew now...

You read that right. I didn't say it the wrong way round...

But isn't it meant to be the other way round? Don't writers, a few years down the line, dispense the advice they wish they'd had when they started out, as in 'Things I wish I'd known when I started writing'?

Of course they do. And I have some of these too, of course. One of these days, if you bear with me, I may even post them on my blog.

But today is not that day. Today is a day for looking back with nostalgia on those early days of innocence, back in 2006 or so, when I first started taking my writing seriously and sat outside on my swingseat, day after day in that warm summer, scribbling away in a notebook, page after page after scrawly page.

I made tons of mistakes, of course (still do). But what I had, back then, was focus. Yes, I had a computer with a broadband connection - 2006 is not that long ago. But I didn't have Twitter or Facebook, and I knew nothing about 'author platforms' and the like. Oh, long lost, glorious, halcyon days...

Don't get me wrong. I'm pleased to have had several novels published in the years since then, and more on the way. I love my work and enjoy the publicity side of things, most of the time. I certainly enjoy hobnobbing with fellow writers, on and offline, and I wouldn't be without my social media now.

But having said all that - here's my list of things I knew then that I wish I still knew today:


1. The actual writing is what counts.

2. Reading is one of my chief pleasures. Not reading with an eye to the market. Not studying how other authors achieve the things they do. Not reading my own stuff, struggling to find a good title. Not reading in fear - has this person stumbled upon the same plotline as me and got there first? Not reading with envy or scorn or anything else. Just reading with sheer delight, because that's what books are for.

3. Anything is possible. I know nothing, in 2006, about the requirements of agents or editors. I have faith in myself. Yes, I need to learn, but I have confidence that I can learn.

4. I'm still young! Well, not exactly young, but six years younger than I'll be in six years' time...

5. I am very lucky to have been able to retire from a stress-filled job into a blissful existence where I have the time and energy to write.

6. Just to repeat... The actual writing is what counts.


OK, younger self, I'm listening. I know a fair number of things now that I didn't know back then, and some of them are worth knowing. I wouldn't really want to go back.

But you had some things right, and it's time I got them right again.

Mental health-y stuff

You know how it is...

Well, if you've ever had mental health problems, you probably do. When you're feeling well, it's the last thing you want to think about. When you're feeling ill, it's the last thing you want to write about. Result: it's quite rare for me to blog about my depressions.

But I'm in an in-between state at present, so here goes. It's been a week of alarms - sudden hospital admission for my OH, who, thankfully, now seems to be fine. I seem able to cope when I have to, but then go into meltdown afterwards, when things are OK again. I know I'm not alone in this.

I'm very thankful for my anti-depressant medication, which most of the time I'm taking on a low dose, or else I'm temporarily off it but have it on standby. Perhaps part of the effect is psychological, who knows? But of course it's psychological - it's a psychological problem. Sort of. Or maybe my brain just runs out of serotonin, for reasons known only to itself. Whatever the reason, my tablets always seem to sort me out. I know there are a lot of different views around on medication for depression - and I'm a great believer in counselling, too - but for me it really does seem to be a chemical thing that responds well to the pharmaceutical approach.

I'm comforted by the fact that lots of writers, past and present, seem to suffer from mental illness in one form or another. I suspect we are often people who 'think too much' - though why that should be is another question. I do get the feeling it's deeply endemic in me. I've always been a worrier, as long as I can remember. Throughout my life I've been told by the people who care about me to 'stop worrying; it may never happen', but I've never found the magic switch.

I'm currently trying, for the first time, to write directly about a character with depression, in my latest novel. Thrilling stuff (or possibly not). Though I hope to keep a good balance - there's a lot of other things going on, too - including some intelligent robots, who have problems of their own.

I'd love to hear from you if you're a fellow sufferer or if you have any thoughts on the subject of mental health - in fiction, in life, or anywhere else. And believe me, though the tone of this post is light, I appreciate that it is no laughing matter. Except that, just occasionally and when I'm feeling well, I can smile at myself and my slightly ridiculous brain...

My post on GirlsHeartBooks

This week has been a little bit hectic and I apologise for not posting here for a while.

But you can read my today's blog post on GirlsHeartBooks, the popular new blog for girl readers aged 8-14(ish)...

I was quite pleased with myself for managing to find a link between two of my favourite things, Wimbledon and writing!

Writing about depression

For much of my adult life I have suffered from recurrent episodes of depression. I'm very lucky, though - with the help of my GP I've found a medication that seems to work. Mind you, every time I begin to feel myself going down, I have a flash of fear that it won't work this time. Up to now, I'm glad to say, it always has, though it can take time.

Although I've been writing seriously now for over 5 years, I still haven't tackled the subject of depression head on in any of my novels. In Alexa's Song (not yet published) I wrote about a character who is bipolar, but I never really described his depressive epsiodes. Perhaps there are good reasons for that. Depression is notoriously difficult to write about. And it's not something you necessarily want to think about while you're feeling well.

I'm now writing a science fiction novel and, oddly enough, depression has crept up on me, not in life, but in my writing. I'm describing the experience of... well, let's just say a disembodied brain... and as I write, I realise just what it is I'm writing about. Perhaps...

This is a first draft and I don't like to talk too much about my first drafts in case they melt away like dreams. So I'll stop now.

I'll be interested if anyone reading this has managed to write about depression - please comment, if you have. Or if you've read any novels that you feel capture it well.