Not that
writing is a difficult chore, of course. I’m retired and I don’t have to write.
I do it because I enjoy the process of creating. When I was an area controller
at the Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre, I took up painting as a way of
calming myself down after a busy time on watch. It was a creative activity as
well as calming one. I look upon novel writing in the same way. Where I once
created scenes in paints, I now do it in words.
The
conundrum is not, “Why do I write?” Instead, it is, “Why did I spend my working
life in a non-creative job?” The simple answer is that I worked to pay the
mortgage and support my family. Interestingly, it also gave me an insight into the
mentality of people in non-creative work, and that helped me when creating
characters for my stories. It also gave me ideas for plot lines. My readers often
tell me the novel they liked most was Prestwick,
a tale of two aircraft colliding over the North Atlantic. I could never have
written that tale with conviction had I not had an insight into how such a
situation might arise. And how the people involved might react.
My own
favourite amongst the novels I have had published is King’s Priory. I wrote it at a time when I was still formulating my
own ideas on the meaning of life, the universe and everything. My ideas have
moved on since then but there is a lot of me in that novel.
So, there
is no Henry in the house today and no reason why I should not get more work
completed on my latest novel. I read the first chapter of this story to a group
of writers at a novellists’ gathering last weekend and they gave me some
excellent feedback. And I’m raring to go.
I love both Prestwick and King's Priory among your novels. Couldn't put either of them down. Keep writing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kath. Praise from another novellist is so valuable. And appreciated.
ReplyDelete