Living the life of a slave

- and loving it!

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More often that not, when asked about my relationship to writing I describe it as an addiction: “the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity” (according to my Mac dictionary). Which sounds about right - though not the substance part, obviously..!

Yesterday, after hosting another successful Contextual virtual poetry reading event, I confess it also felt like something else too.

There are things I do - that I choose to do and enjoy doing - which are all part of my interpretation of what ‘being a writer’ means: Contextual; chairing a Poetry Society Stanza group; keeping Coverstory books alive with the production of others’ work (maybe 3-6 books per year); mentoring on writers’ retreats… Even this Substack site. All are brilliant, rewarding, inspiring.

But you know what it’s like: regular events put repeating entries in your calendar - as does the process of book production with editing, preparing covers, reviewing proofs, getting the books ‘live’ etc. On the one hand all of these are great at providing structure and framework, but on the other they can loom large as - say it quietly! - ‘commitments’.

Writing itself can be like that too. “I write from 9 to 11”; “from 1 to 3”; “I write 800 words a day without fail”; “when I’ve had six pints of beer”; “I write when there’s a ‘Z’ in the month” etc. Structure or commitment? Framework or straitjacket?

Of course the trick is one of balance, keeping everything that is good about having structure and framework without allowing it to dominate, to take over, to be all there is.

Increasingly, for me that means allowing just the right level of flexibility into my schema - though judging how much flexibility, and what it should look like, is another matter entirely! Only experience can help there - knowing what does, and does not, work.

For example, I like to write first thing in the morning, usually on my laptop between 8 and 9. And there’s a particular spot in the house - where I am right now! - that’s simply a perfect place to start my writerly day:

But do I beat myself up on the days when I can’t do so, or when I choose not to - either be here or to write at all? Of course not. What purpose would that serve?

So yes, perhaps like all writers, I am addicted - and I am a slave both to my writing and the brilliant things I wrap around it.

Perhaps you are too!

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