This Writing Life

I have been reprimanded for being such a slack blogger.  Now that I have survived the first semester of self-imposed immersion, I have a little more time, although I should be thinking about a thesis for next year, and probably starting on it! The real treasure of this course is the exposure to so many different talents and opinions. One good outcome of doing the MA is that I now have a license to write. So spending all morning at my desk and doing what I love, is now legal.

During the course of this semester we will be having weekly workshops, each with a different author, introducing us to various genres, as well as talks about publishing, branding and agenting. So it’s starting to feel a lot more like the real thing. Over the last two weeks I have been depressed by the prospects for publishing (1% of manuscripts actually get published, only 1 million people buy books in SA) and I am worried about whether it is possible to produce a book by this time next year.

This week we had South Africa’s latest shining star, Lauren Beukes come and talk to us. Leonardo di Caprio has bought the movie rights to her book…enough said. I can barely watch CSI if I am alone in the house and the very idea of Dexter or Hannibal is guaranteed to give me sleepless nights. So The Shining Girls is not at all the kind of book which would appeal to me – time travelling serial killers!? I think not. However, I was impressed with her focus and commitment to her writing.  We all know writers who are better than we are, she said, but they gave up.

I also admire her ability to market herself. She showed us a book trailer for The Shining Girls (yes, a video clip to advertise the book). I immediately recognized it as something which would interest my daughter. I showed her the trailer when I got home and by the following evening she had not only gone out and bought the book but was a good bit of the way into it.  It has been a while since I have seen her reading for pleasure… actually, not since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

I have been having doubts about writing non-fiction, about what right I have to appropriate other people’s stories, about how accurate my memories are, and other angst-ridden questions. Lauren also had the following advice, which has set me free, in a way. Write what challenges and interests you. Let the book rest and get as much feedback as you can from different people. Don’t think about publishing for at least three months after the thesis is completed.

I realize that I should simply go ahead and write the story I want to write, as best I can, uninhibited by the idea of publishing.  Right now it is my story. I’ll worry about sending it out to the world at a later stage.