The Book Deal Diaries #2
Where to begin
Life imitates art
As I sit here in India preparing this piece for publication, life once more imitates art…
Last night I received an email from one of my dog boarding clients (she is fabulous - you’ll learn more about her and her dog, Tigger, in a Lemon Soul article this weekend). It contained a link to a short story competition and the simple words: ‘start writing’.
I am not a fiction writer, I am very firmly a non-fiction writer, although a highly story-driven one. Friends are always encouraging me to try writing a novel, and my answer is normally; ‘I can’t - it’s not what I do, I have no imagination…’, justifying my resistance with my belief that real stories are far more interesting than fiction…but then I realise these are all excuses. I’m just scared. Scared I’ll do it badly, scared I’ll get it wrong, scared it’ll be rubbish - but so what? The only way to find out is to try, and the only way to get better is to practice. The way to break the fear is to begin.
So…late last night on the shores of a lake in Kerala, I began dreaming up a fiction short story. A key part of my plot unexpectedly popped up as a poisoning, so as I nervously googled ‘how to poison someone’ (funnily enough it is not within my current arsenal of expertise), I came across my substance of choice. Ethanol glycol - antifreeze. Simple, effective and, it would seem, a common enough method for me to gather some data on. The third ‘character’ in my short story.
Whilst I pondered how to weave it in, how to make it subtle, how to capture attention and keep a reader engaged, I picked up the Jodi Picoult novel I had selected from the ‘book house’ in the hotel grounds, with its shelves of well-thumbed novels in several languages. As I feverishly read it from cover to cover, I turned to the unexpected twist on the last page, and there it was. Ethanol glycol. I laughed out loud. Because that, my friends, is what’s today’s episode of ‘The Book Deal Diaries’ is all about. When you’re seeking inspiration, when you doubt your imagination and can’t fathom whether you have a book in you or what it may be about…when you don’t know where to begin…read.
That is where to begin.
[As an aside - how the hell do crime writers research stuff without being arrested themselves for their search history?!??! Hoping my words here will exonerate me from future prosecution in the event I am ever proximal to a poisoning.]
Once upon a time…
In the years, months, weeks and days whilst you avoid putting pen to paper or dipping your toe in whichever water you may dream of: being scared of what might happen, finding excuses not to do it, worrying about making a wrong decision, feeling guilty for even thinking of allowing yourself a new pathway, procrastinating in any number of extraordinary ways, what you can do is READ.
This is a gentle place to begin, and there are no associated expectations. This is just for you.
I don’t read as much as I would like to, and my tsundoku affliction is far more likely to lead to my early demise under a pile of unread books than anything to do with antifreeze. That said, I adore books, and my bookshelves bring me such joy, with beloved copies weathered and treasured next to trashy ‘one-offs’ sat there to be passed on; fantasy nestled alongside biography, historical fiction peering over young adult, nature writing and travel amidst thrillers and the thrilling; they represent so much about what I love, and my insatiable thirst for learning other perspectives on the world, be that through fact or fiction.
I delighted in organising my bookshelves at home into sections after my stint working at Waterstones so I could browse in my own front room - Mind, Body, Spirit? History? Travel writing? General Fiction? It’s all there. It’s the small things make me happy…
Sometimes, though, my books get dusty and neglected as I brush past them whilst rushing from one thing to another, or scroll senselessly on my phone just feet away from this trove of treasure to be explored.
Somehow being caught curled up on a sofa with a book feels so indulgent, right? I’m sure no one would bat an eyelid if I was glued to my iPhone absorbing nothing of value whatsoever…
So begin by allowing yourself the luxury of reading. Treat yourself to the joy of time spent with a book. Old favourites, new recommendations, familiar genres, brave choices – whatever it may be, just grab the opportunity when you can. Perhaps next time the notifications ping through on your phone, pop it into airplane mode just for 10 minutes, pick up a book, and see where it takes you. I might just do the same.
As you read you will absorb, learn, grow and develop. All those words will filter into your own super storage facility and help to shape the words you want to form for yourself when the time is ready. There they will lie for you to ‘mine’ when the time is right – watch this space for an interview with brilliant mindset therapist
all about brain mining shortly!!So indulge. Allow. Permit.
It is more than ok.
Before I introduce the first prompts to encourage you to break the barriers to writing at the end of this piece, let’s start with ‘what to read’.
Here are my recommendations in 3 steps: