Does Your Gender Affect Your Writing Success?

Here is a loaded question, and I would be very interested to receive some responses in the comments below. I am currently reading On Writing by Stephen King, and I have reached the section of the book where he tells us that if we are serious about writing, we actually have to do it. We cannot keep putting it off and blaming our life circumstances, our lack of free time, and all the other millions of excuses we come up with.

Now, I totally agree with that. But one sentence in King’s book struck a chord. He wrote that he was fortunate to have a “self-sufficient wife” and she allowed him to hide away and write whenever he needed to. They have children, and he wrote his novels and short stories since before they were born and throughout their lives. Did his wife shoulder the parental responsibility, and do all the boring, everyday essential tasks of caring for the children before he found fame and fortune?

I would say that I have a self-sufficient husband. In fact, he is so self-sufficient that I am often left at home with the children, and I do 99% of the household chores, nurturing, caring, doctors’ appointments, etc. My husband simply works, in a demanding job that takes him away from the family home for anything up to sixteen hours every day, five days a week. He then spends the weekends ‘catching up’ on his personal affairs, and sleeping because he so exhausted from working all week. But he provides the income, and I must accept that.

In order to follow Stephen King’s advice, I need to change that model of behaviour. My husband refuses to make his work hours more flexible, or even to book time off that he is legally allowed (that is a whole other saga!). He did recently have a pay rise, however. Our cashflow is not brilliant, but if I am to look at the bigger picture, I need some help with childcare. To that end, I plan to investigate the costs of childcare, and see what I can fit around preschool and school. Then perhaps I can find time to finish the manuscripts I have languishing on my hard drive, and finally get my career established professionally.

How do you fit writing in around family and work?

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And now, back to the Writing! #NaNoWriMo 2015

Oh yes, the time has come! We are fast approaching that marvellous month of madness and mayhem…it is time for National Novel Writing Month, 2015. And this year I am ready and raring to go. There is one slight problem: I don’t have a clue what I am going to write! But that’s never stopped me before… and this year I have a team of writing buddies on hand to assist, which is fabulous. We are forming our own little NaNoWriMo group, just the three of us for now, although we may persuade a few more to join us as we progress.

Part of the joy of NaNoWriMo is the sense of community and comradeship that we find. Although I have not yet managed to attend local write-in sessions for our regional writing groups, I now have people in my home town that will participate this year, and we have a central venue in which to work together. Amazing! And then, of course, I will have all of my lovely supporters via Twitter and the NaNoWriMo forums. We are always there to console and cajole at odd hours of the day or night, such is the all-consuming madness of the month.

So, for the next couple of days, I must prepare my home and my family for the abandonment that is to come. Fortunately, my elder daughter is now in school, so she is happy to relax when she gets home in the evenings. My younger daughter attends preschool, so I do have at least two days in the week for solid writing sessions. And the rest, well, I will do what I can around the domestic responsibilities. November will be a month for ready meals (sorry kids!), a dusty house (nothing new there, then), and even less sleep than usual for me. But it is totally worth it! See you on the other side… with my brand new manuscript!

Meet Paranormal Author Catherine Green over on @WordMothers

I am very pleased to share with you this insightful author interview featuring today on the Word Mothers blog...

http://wordmothers.com/2015/02/26/interview-with-author-catherine-green/

Not Quite a #CampNaNoWriMo Winner

Well, I didn't win Camp NaNoWriMo this year! I am not upset about it, however. In fact, I feel quite proud that I finally did some writing, even if it was only 8068 words towards my original target of 25,000. I have been on such a depressing emotional roller-coaster lately, as I try desperately to write and market my books single-handedly while raising two young children by myself. The only relief is that I have a husband to earn the family income. If I had that responsibility as well, I think I would just give up altogether, at least for a while.

Anyway, back to the subject. Ah, the joys of being a writer. We always seem to sidetrack, our minds whirl away into another time and place, and we take far longer to reach our original destination because of all the distractions. So I didn't win Camp NaNoWriMo this year. No matter. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the challenge, and in the future I look forward to having more time to devote to actually exploring the forums and interacting with my cabin mates. And, ultimately, I have another WIP to add to my collection, and I will continue to work on it when my children allow, so that I can build my portfolio over time.

As for the marketing, well, that is always ongoing. It will improve when I learn more, when I understand more about where to spend my time and effort, and ultimately, when I sell more books. At least when I have a regular income I can outsource some of my work... ah, that will  be a joy and relief!