A writer’s dilemma – creativity versus admin

When I first started writing a children’s book last year, it was great – having the chance to be creative, building my characters and settings, and writing the first draft of an adventure was wonderful. It was just the inventive, imaginative task that I thought it would be. However, once the first draft was written, the admin side of writing began to raise its ugly head.

Writing query letters to agents, investigating self-publishing options, re-writing and editing, working through copy-edited manuscripts, style copies and proof copies seemed so uninspiring – not my idea of being a creative children’s writer at all. I knew the manuscript was getting better all the time, but the process seemed pretty tedious.

Then my Marketing Controller at the publishers suggested that I start a blog. I had never (knowingly), read a blog, much less written one, but I did a bit of research, and noticed that lots of writers and aspiring authors wrote blogs – sometimes about their writing and sometimes about whatever came into their heads at the time.

After discussing the pros and cons of it all with the dog, I signed up for a WordPress site and then left it alone for a while – I was reluctant to put my fingers to the keyboard and write my first blog in case either I, or worse still, other people, thought it was rubbish. What to do?

I took the dog on longer walks than usual, to give myself a chance to think – did I really want to write a blog? Wouldn’t this take valuable time away from the ‘real’ writing process of kicking my manuscript into shape for publication?

After a couple of weeks I took a deep breath and started writing my first post, the dog sitting beside me to provide moral support, and nudging me occasionally with his paw to make sure he got the occasional mention. What a revelation it was! Far from being just another item on my long ‘to-do’ list, writing the blog became an oasis of creative calm, a lovely break in an otherwise admin-swamped world. Finally, I could write something new, and I could do it on a regular basis.

Now I understand much better why writers who are trying to get their books published, write blogs. It’s not just about publicising books (although that is good!), or about sharing experiences with others (which is great too!), but also about keeping the imagination and the creative side of writing alive, during the otherwise long, and slightly boring editing process.

So, what do you think of my blog, so far? Any comments will be gratefully received and responded to – as long as it doesn’t involve too much admin!