…so technically this is work.
Having had some success with poetry and keeping up a regular column of prose, I wanted to broaden my skills and have a go at writing historical fiction so I booked on a course at Tŷ Newydd, the National Writing Centre of Wales The five-day course takes place in a rambling old house purchased by Lloyd George, the former British Prime Minister, as a place to retire to and where he died, peacefully, on 26 March 1945, in the library, having asked for his bed to be moved there so he could see Cardigan Bay.
I learned a lot on the course about researching my period and being inspired by objects and texts. I even wrote a historical poem which got itself published in a reputable small magazine. I spent the following year building a world for my characters and making sure their timeline was credible. But there was something not quite right. I had written some scenes and shared them with my fellow Coalville Writers. But I wasn’t sure that the story was going to work.
So I went to another Tŷ Newydd course earlier this month, this time on writing a novel facilitated by Ingrid Persaud author of ‘Love After Love’ which won the Costa First Novel award. I can hardly begin to list all the things I learned in those sunny five days, but they do seem to have kickstarted my fiction in ways I hadn’t entirely anticipated. Sitting in Lloyd George’s library, surrounded by inspiring literature in both English and Welsh, Ingrid told us how, when she decided to become a professional author, she made herself write a blog every week, something she did for five years.
I’ve only just had the keys to this new website and am not entirely sure how to make best use of it. But the discipline of writing regularly, whether you feel inspired or not, has to be part of a developing writer’s toolkit.
I am not going to promise to be as diligent as Ingrid, but I can see that using this blog to describe my writer’s journey will be helpful for me. And maybe helpful for you to.
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