Thank you for this Jade – and lovely to meet you in the LWS Mingle recently. I literally have about 50 notebooks full of abandoned writing projects and ideas that somehow never got past a few lines, paragraphs or pages, or even whole notebooks filled with research, so it is nothing short of a miracle that I continue to press on with my present historical fiction novel (it's an ambitious epic set in early Edo Japan / early 17th century Amsterdam; being that I've never been to Japan and certainly didn't live in that era, there are endless times the many research rabbit holes threaten to derail me, which is when I usually just have to rely on my imagination in order to keep going – nothing helps kill a stalling perfectionism better than getting stuck after days of fruitless research! [I was heartened to hear from The Bone Season author that she spent 3 weeks trying to find out what materials were used in a certain type of mediaeval hat – I know that feeling!]). I am now midway through the first draft, about 90,000 words after over a year and a half of occasionally interrupted regular writing, but I could not have done it without the encouragement of others like yourself in London Writers Salon.
So lovely to meet you, and a million congrats on pressing ahead with your novel. When people think about writing, I don't know if they realize how much research or reporting goes into any thoughtful project! Really congrats on your hard work and I'm excited for you. 90,000! Awesome!
Thanks Jade – no doubt you'll hear about its ongoing process at writers' hour! Depending on how busy with general life, etc is, I do try to join all sessions where possible, so hope to see you there again!
Thank you for this Jade – and lovely to meet you in the LWS Mingle recently. I literally have about 50 notebooks full of abandoned writing projects and ideas that somehow never got past a few lines, paragraphs or pages, or even whole notebooks filled with research, so it is nothing short of a miracle that I continue to press on with my present historical fiction novel (it's an ambitious epic set in early Edo Japan / early 17th century Amsterdam; being that I've never been to Japan and certainly didn't live in that era, there are endless times the many research rabbit holes threaten to derail me, which is when I usually just have to rely on my imagination in order to keep going – nothing helps kill a stalling perfectionism better than getting stuck after days of fruitless research! [I was heartened to hear from The Bone Season author that she spent 3 weeks trying to find out what materials were used in a certain type of mediaeval hat – I know that feeling!]). I am now midway through the first draft, about 90,000 words after over a year and a half of occasionally interrupted regular writing, but I could not have done it without the encouragement of others like yourself in London Writers Salon.
So lovely to meet you, and a million congrats on pressing ahead with your novel. When people think about writing, I don't know if they realize how much research or reporting goes into any thoughtful project! Really congrats on your hard work and I'm excited for you. 90,000! Awesome!
Thanks Jade – no doubt you'll hear about its ongoing process at writers' hour! Depending on how busy with general life, etc is, I do try to join all sessions where possible, so hope to see you there again!
Thanks for your reminder not to let a good enough idea to die!
Absolutely! Thanks for reading<3