Simon Whaley’s Business of Writing: July 2023
Welcome to my July 2023 newsletter.
Here in the UK, July has been a rather soggy affair. While I’m so appreciative that we haven’t had to endure the extreme heat that those living in the Mediterranean countries and some American states have had to deal with, we’ve had nearly double our monthly rainfall and hardly seen any sunshine.
That did change last night, when quite unexpectedly (which means it wasn’t in the forecast), we had a lovely evening. So, despite the work that I need to get done, I decided to go out for a walk.
I had no idea where I was going. I simply set off down the road and saw the nearby hill of Caer Caradoc bathed in sunshine, so headed in that direction. And I just kept walking. Forty-five minutes later, I was at the top, gazing across my home county of Shropshire.
Caer Caradoc is crowned with an Iron Age hill fort, and just below one of the ramparts, there’s a small cave. Folklore says Caer Caradoc takes its name from Caractacus, chief of the local tribe, who was eventually defeated by the Romans. While Caractacus was defeated by the Romans, it probably wasn’t here, but that hasn’t stopped the locals naming the cave as Caractacus’s Cave! If folklore is to be believed, this is where Caractacus hid.
Some people might query the use of the word cave. It’s more of a hollow. It’s certainly not big enough for a six-footer like me to stand up in, but it does go back about five feet. Caractacus must have been a lot shorter than me! But it proved a glorious viewpoint to catch the setting sun last night.
So what’s all this got to do with the business of writing, I hear you ask?
As I was strolling back home, it hit me that this was the first time all summer that I’d been out for a nice walk in the evening. Admittedly, July’s not been great weather for evening walks, but May and June certainly had the right weather for evening ambles.
This was a reminder to stop, take time for myself, and top up the creative well. As writers, it’s easy to put pressure on ourselves, to meet goals, strive for deadlines, and write new material. But our creativity is not limitless. Our writing business is only as good as the creativity we can draw upon from our Well of Inspiration.
If we fail to top it up, it will, eventually, run dry. It’s therefore vital that we take time out to replenish our creativity.
In the same way that Planet Earth has given the UK a dry April, May, and June, it is now topping up its water table in July. Perhaps this means we’ll have an Indian Summer this year. If we do, at least there’ll be enough water in the ground to nourish the green and pleasant land Britain is fortunate to have.
Do you take enough time out for yourself? Do you block out time in your day to do things just for you? As writers, we need time to daydream. . . to allow our thoughts to wander freely with no constrictions. It’s amazing what can happen when you allow yourself the freedom to think.
One way to top up the creative well is to run away, if only for a few days, and retreat, and it’s something that I do every year with friends from the writers’ group I go to. I wrote an article about it for The Writing Cooperative publication on Medium, and it’s become my most popular online article. It certainly struck a chord with other writers. (As newsletter subscribers, you can read the article for free here.)
Of course, as writers, we all know that inspiration, when it does strike, can strike at any time. In an upcoming piece for Writing Magazine, I chatted to writer Antony Johnston, whose graphic novel was turned into the Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde. Not only does he write graphic novels, but he also writes cosy crime novels, video games, and thrillers. Here’s a man with lots of ideas and inspiration. Which made me wonder what his brilliant system was for collecting and storing his ideas.
”99% of my idea capture is done in a Moleskine notebook that I carry with me everywhere – even to bed at night. When something comes to mind, I simply write it on the next available page and date it.”
But it was interesting what Antony said about all of these ideas that he has and keeps track of:
” One thing that has changed is that I’m less hard on myself these days for “letting go” of an idea. I used to get very annoyed and frustrated if I had a concept, but couldn’t figure out how to make it work. With experience came the realisation that some ideas simply aren’t destined to become a fully-fledged story, and there’s always another one around the corner.”
So, remember to take time out for yourself to top up the creative well, for it is here that you’ll get your ideas. But don’t pressurise yourself to use every idea. Sometimes they need to percolate for longer or be merged with another you haven’t yet had, before they can fly. And sometimes, they just don’t have any mileage in them at all, but that’s fine.
Until next time, keeeeeeeeeep writing!
Best wishes,
Simon
PS - We’ve been clearing out the loft because we need to rewire the property in the coming weeks (don’t ask!) and I came across some old family photos of when I was a kid. I’m thinking about using the following image as my new author photo. What do you think? 🤣
I only came across Caractacus myself, a year ago, when I walked up to the English camp in the Malvern Hills. I'm fascinated by these historic figures that we know very little about.
Yeah, if you believe local legend, this Caractacus bloke got about a bit! 🤣