“Do you have any advice for writing a novel whilst working full time?”

ASK ME ANYTHING

Oh, do I?

If there’s one thing I know well it’s the perils of trying to write a novel whilst working full-time. I burned out and couldn’t work or write a single syllable due to pushing myself to my physical and mental limits, but more on that here.

It’s important to note that we all feel and realistically have these physical, social and emotional setbacks when it comes to our creativity. For some of us we might have children and / or be carers as well as writing a book. Some of us have a mental illness which can incapacitate our art and restrict us beyond our control. Others of us have huge self-worth issues or are in toxic relationships or patterns whereby we can’t foresee that what we have to write is of any use to the world. And some of us are homeless or stuck in transient situations whereby we don’t have the stability to write. I know and have worked with writers in all of these situations. All to say – pick your poison (or indeed have it inflicted upon you) – there is always going to be something dragging you back when you’re trying to create. I think that’s almost the point.

To write is to push against, to battle with oneself in the quiet, conflicted and contradictory corners of your mind. It is to make sense of the injustices, ramifications and rudderless exploits of living. It’s a process of releasing.