The writing comes first

This is the post I didn’t want to write (which is why I delayed it for a week). This is the post where I tell you that for the last few weeks the writing didn’t come first. Instead 250,000 words belonging to someone else came first as I edited chaotic documents that had been translated from two languages before they came to me. A website, eDMs, meetings, and emails also came first. And when I wasn’t working for my business during the day, at night, and on weekends (over at my other persona, Rowena Writes Copy), I was doing my best to meet longstanding and long overdue social commitments which were of course completely pleasurable, but again meant that the writing didn’t come first.

When I was writing for business I felt guilty about not writing my novel, and when I tried to find time to work on my manuscript, I felt guilty about not doing the writing that pays my bills. Anxiety started to build as I worried that this would be the second time that I had been given a rare opportunity to do something that I really cared about and that it was at risk of slipping away from me because of other people’s deadlines.

Thankfully I have four fundamental elements to keep me focused...

• A reliable manuscript plan (you will recall my post-it note poster for plot planning and general chaos sorting).
• A publisher interested in reading my work.
• An overseas research trip booked (less than one month away!).

But there is another, much more significant driver that is keeping me in check. Last week my research and my personal life intersected in an extremely powerful way. While I am still keeping the detail of my manuscript fairly close to my chest, those who know something of the subject matter of my novel may be able to guess at the nature of this intersection. It has added to my sense of urgency to get this story told.

This is the post I didn’t want to write. It is slapdash, jotted down between deadlines, and tells the woe is me story of having a moderately successful business. More meaningfully, it is the post I didn’t want to write because it references the experience of my friend and many others like her, whose stories I am so keen to share with the world.
I can’t think of a more important reason to remember why the writing should always come first.

 
Postscript: For some readers this post may not make a lot of sense right now. Don’t worry. It will.