QnA September 2020 - Productivity and getting stuck

Hello! Hope you’re all doing well and navigating the nonsense. I had some really interesting questions this month. Here they are:

1. Should I do a writing course?

I’ve written a blog on that here. I would say yes, but ultimately it comes down to who you are and your financial situation. I personally wouldn’t recommend the two day courses you get over a weekend, as you can get that kind of information in a book for 5% of the cost. But there are people who love those. My advice is to do a long course, or evening course stretched over months, or a Masters if you can afford it. The longer courses give you the chance to get to know the other writers too, and that’s really valuable, especially when you need to vent about how hard it is! It really depends on you and what level you’re at. If you’re weak at structure, there are structure workshops that may help, and others for character and genre. You can never get enough knowledge, but get the knowledge that best helps you and doesn’t leave you bankrupt! If you’re nervous about investing, there are online communities you can join to meet other writers. They can be full of great info.

2. Do you have a productivity routine?

Early morning for me. Get up and write while everything is peaceful. Go to the same desk, write facing the window and get on with it. And on writing days I try to avoid emails until 4pm. I used to get up at 5am and write, but recently it’s been harder. It’s important to not criticise yourself too much when you’re not being hugely productive, especially as there’s a pandemic! Everyone has different habits and routines that work for them. It’s interesting to read what others do, but find what works for you. Here’s an article from another blog about writing habits.

3. Is it easy to make a living writing?

No. There are too many factors that are out of your control and your income can vanish just as quickly as it appeared. My advice is to get a part-time job that doesn’t drain you creatively. Freelancing in other areas is also useful, as you can accumulate a wage then take a break to write before looking again.

4. How do you get over writer’s block?

I’ve written about it elsewhere, but I don’t believe in it. You’ll always encounter problems when writing, but the idea is to write through them and to let yourself write badly when you need to. Nobody will ever see the bad writing, but it can help you to solve a problem and get to the right place. If you call it writer’s block it sounds a lot more powerful than it is. When really it’s just ‘trying to figure out a story problem.’ Switching your mind to something else also helps, as your mind will be subconsciously trying to solve the problem. I’ve found solutions while washing dishes, swimming, cleaning, doing a puzzle. Don’t punish yourself for not having all the answers instantly. They’re there, they just sometimes need time to come out.

5. Will you read my script?

A few people have asked me to read scripts, and I’ve had to say no a lot. It’s because of time. If you send me a half-hour script, that’ll take up one hour to one and a half hours to read and give decent feedback on. I also spend a fair bit of time reading scripts for friends and colleagues already. What I might start doing, is once every two months pick someone at random who has requested a script read, and read a script for them. I’ll come back on that one!