{"id":3018,"date":"2021-09-11T16:26:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T14:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3018"},"modified":"2021-09-12T17:55:24","modified_gmt":"2021-09-12T15:55:24","slug":"it-never-gets-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3018","title":{"rendered":"The gritted teeth technique\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I\u2019ve been writing all my life and professionally for the last\u00a0eleven years. As you\u2019d expect, the journey (sorry to use the\u00a0\u2018j word\u2019) has been interesting. Over time I\u2019ve progressed from being a purely instinctive writer with\u00a0little\u00a0knowledge of point of view, the effect of tense, story arc or pace,\u00a0to\u00a0honing my\u00a0skills. I\u2019m still\u00a0very instinctive\u00a0at heart\u00a0and planning doesn\u2019t come naturally. I still\u00a0adore telling\u00a0myself\u00a0the story\u00a0in the first draft, watching\u00a0my\u00a0characters\u00a0grow. I also love the research, especially if it\u2019s historical (a bit too much, if I\u2019m honest. I\u00a0frequently disappear down a research rabbit hole).\u00a0What hasn\u2019t changed, ironically, is that each book is different. It\u2019s different in its research needs,\u00a0its\u00a0approach, the feel and how it\u00a0lands\u00a0onto the paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last book published was an idea I\u2019d had knocking around for ages. Inspired by a man modelling jumpers in a John Lewis ad (I know, I know, but inspiration strikes in the strangest of places) and how it felt standing under three chestnut trees which grew opposite my childhood home. I\u2019ve an appalling memory but can distinctly recall standing beneath these mighty trees, looking up and listening to the wind rustle through. Add in a love of Doris Day, old movies and gardening, and Janey Trelawney\u2019s Year of Surprising Triumphs<\/em> was born. It\u2019s a Calamity Jane<\/em> update and for research I re-watched the film halfway through writing the first draft. I soon realised modern readers wouldn\u2019t accept how Wild Bill treated Calamity Jane, so I took elements from the film and had great fun referencing them in some plot elements and names. Keen fans will spot them but the book itself developed its own life very quickly. It was a dream to write, it simply fell onto the page. I love writing a villain and this book has a corker!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You\u2019d think, with it being the same process each time, and with cumulative experience, that every book would write the same. But no. Much to the amusement of my Zoom writing pals who have \u2018lived\u2019 with me trying to write it, the new book has, quite frankly (and look away if you\u2019re of a delicate constitution) a complete bugger to write. So much so, it\u2019s become known as The Buggery Book That Refuses to be Written.<\/em> It\u2019s coming out in three parts, it\u2019s set in Berecombe, my favourite fictional seaside town, and features characters which have appeared in other Berecombe books. And it\u2019s a romance. It should have been straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been one of those books I\u2019ve had to force myself, with gritted teeth, to plonk down in front of the computer and tear the words from my bleeding soul. I\u2019ve no idea why it\u2019s been so difficult to write. I love the idea. I love the characters and am especially fond of one. It also has Biddy in it, who is my all-time favourite character from any of my books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what has been the problem? Lockdowns undoubtedly had an effect. During the first one last spring, I couldn\u2019t write anything. Frozen with fear for my loved ones, myself, and the world in general, writing seemed too trivial in comparison. Instead, I watched an awful lot of daytime television and ate chocolate. With the good weather (remember the blue skies unadulterated by air pollution?) I gardened a bit, settled in the new rescue dog, read in the sunshine, and began to adjust to the \u2018new normal.\u2019 
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Ralph the rescue<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n


And I started to write again. There wasn\u2019t much else to do, well for me, I appreciate that wasn\u2019t the case for everyone. Buggery<\/em> still lived up to its name. Eventually, through determination (having a deadline helped) I wrote the first novella, edited to meet the requested revisions, wrote the second (ditto) and am now heading for the end of the first draft of the third and final novella. In some ways, this should be the easiest to write – it\u2019s a matter of tying everything up and hurtle my characters to their happy ending. But no, it\u2019s continued in the same pattern. Words grudgingly trickling out with me wondering if I can do this writing malarkey anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Weirdly, as I\u2019ve been writing this blog, something\u2019s occurred. Although the new book is another in my series of Berecombe romances, it has more in common with my dual narrative or timeslips as it has a historical story running through it too. I love writing my historical romances but accept they take longer and that I need to plan them much more before I begin – sometimes in forensic detail (I learned that while writing While I Was Waiting<\/em>). Wish I\u2019d realised this sooner! I\u2019ve written while working full-time, during a difficult OFSTED inspection and when my eyesight was severely compromised but no book has ever been this tricky! Maybe if I\u2019d treated it more like a dual narrative, it might have flowed onto the page better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Actual planning for On a Falling Tide!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n


I\u2019m aware I\u2019m coming over as pretentious. I mean, it\u2019s not\u00a0as if\u00a0I\u2019ve been down a coal mine every day, facing irate supermarket customers\u00a0unable\u00a0to buy three thousand loo rolls or been on the front line in a COVID ward.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My message is never to underestimate how hard it can be to write a book, even and maybe especially one which is considered\u00a0easy reading. I\u2019ve learned this through writing this one and I have nine others under my belt. If you\u2019re on the first steps of your writing career and struggling take this to heart. Build your writing support network of trusted confidantes (only other writers appreciate the struggle and can offer useful advice) and most importantly keep going. A published writer is one who never gives up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wish me luck with the last stages of this one. I hope Buggery<\/em> has a better title when it comes out next spring!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been writing all my life and professionally for the last\u00a0eleven years. As you\u2019d expect, the journey (sorry to use the\u00a0\u2018j word\u2019) has been interesting. Over time I\u2019ve progressed from being a purely instinctive writer with\u00a0little\u00a0knowledge of point of view, the effect of tense, story arc or pace,\u00a0to\u00a0honing my\u00a0skills. I\u2019m still\u00a0very instinctive\u00a0at heart\u00a0and planning doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[746,816,93,828,198],"class_list":["post-3018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-berecombe","tag-calamity-jane","tag-georgia-hill","tag-writers-block","tag-writing-romance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3018"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3040,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions\/3040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}