A pox on doubt and associated festive witterings ...

I'm not sure what to write. It's been such an odd year - odd bad and yet also odd good. And I've been feeling odd about it all.

I've been talking a lot to people about their own picture book writing over the course of the year. Picture book writing mates, folk who came to me with manuscripts for assessment, and students on my picture book writing courses. I always urge people to read the type of story they want to write. To look for the books they love the most and interrogate them as to why they appeal, to take those qualities and characteristics and practise them and use them in their own writing. We often say 'writing is hard' and it is. You have to learn the craft, understand the rules of your chosen form, and learn how to see what sets the best ones apart. It can be difficult to push through when a story your brain tells you is locked inside that marble you are chiseling away at refuses to appear. The chisels can feel blunt, the marble impenetrable. And all you can do is keep chipping away and apply a lot of hope. 

And yet I have written some of my favourite sentences by letting go. I gave my mind permission to play, to float free of everything that's come before, the rules and the conventional expectations. Like stepping into a jolly boat on a fast flowing river and getting rid of the oars. Where will the flow take you? Who knows? But it promises adventure. Luckily if you're writing a picture book the worst thing that'll happen is that the story is a mess. You're unlikely to get too wet. And sometimes the mess can be tidied by reapplying the rules and conventions and turn out to be rather charming. And sometimes the river ride brings you to a surprising new destination you never knew existed. Let your mind go and see where it takes you ...

... and if you are grappling with some things remember:

1. Fears are a straight jacket. And our minds tend to exaggerate their size. When it comes to writing, don't let them tell you what to do (or not do!). I mean, what's the worst that can happen? (we are writers not Bear Grylls facing death from dehydration if we don't drink our own wees). Rejection is a stepping stone not a brick wall at the end of a blind alley.

2. A pox on doubt. Every writer feels it and I think it's one of the most duplicitous emotions. Honestly, what does doubt know? It isn't getting some special inside scoop from all the publishers or reviewers or readers! It loves to show you the worst take by one person and pretend that that is the consensus but it's wrong. Seriously - it doesn't have a clue - don't treat it like it does.

3. If you are still not writing because covid and all its associated baggage did a number on your creative thinking, do something writing-adjacent. Keep a diary, write letters to people, read indulgently, binge watch a good tv series and think about how you might improve the plot or dialogue or a particular character. Because when you do feel like it again this will all help. And in the meantime call it research and pat yourself on the back for doing a lot of it. 

4. It's best to focus on the good writerly things that have happened to you, rather than the good things that have happened to other writers. There will always be people doing better than us. Just like there will always be people who aren't doing as well as we are. Its not a race even if it likes to give us that impression. It's messing with you  - that way lies madness. 

I wish you all a safe and happy summer and the hope that whatever you want for your writing, you achieve it in the coming year. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.