Saturday, September 12, 2009

The 'must write' gene...

If you are a writer hoping to be published or a published writer hoping to be published again, go read this!. There is nothing simple or easy about this business. Sometimes it gives me hives. Sometimes it forces me to eat large amounts of chocolate. And the recession adds an extra degree of difficulty. The thing is I can't seem to stop myself writing. If I'm not thinking about what needs to go in the washing, or what I'm going to make to feed 5 people with widely varying tastes for dinner, or that I must get on to the accounts so I can do next months GST, I am thinking about story ideas. I am mulling them over, twisting and turning them this way and that to see if they give the right fit - are the darts in the right place and is the zip long enough. It would be handy to stop because life would be so much simpler. I sometimes wish I was wired for a different profession, but every bit of me is coded with the 'must write' gene. And when I sit down and write it feeds my soul. I have been a bit deprived of writing recently and I feel hungry.

I attended the Auckland Reading Association's celebration of National Literacy Day as a guest speaker yesterday. Highlight? Meeting a teacher and three pupils from my old primary school. I don't know who was more excited. All five of us were grinning happily. Another highlight? Children coming up and saying Did you write this? I love this book? There were a number of Jack the Viking fans, and Were-Nana ones as well. I was stoked. Of course there is no better reward than seeing a reader delighted with your book. And that is the other reason i write. Can I write a book that has the same impact on a reader that some books have had on me? How can you say no to that?

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