Writing Wizardry

Writing Wizardry

You know how lawyers and accountants always hate networking because people always want free advice from them. Or doctors being shown bumps and lumps at dinner parties.

Well I'm different because I love it when people come to talk to me about writing. You see that gives me clues all the time about what writers find challenging, or difficult. Which leads my brain to ask the question how do we at the Writer's Little Book Club help them to overcome that obstacle.

We've already started Babu at the Bar where my colleague Babu Basu does a video session about emails we've received. Obviously we can't answer too many in that format so I thought I'd start a blog thread about writing challenges.

My great niece has recently been enrolled into the Puffin Club by her grandmother to encourage her to read. Not that she really needs much encouragement in our family because we're all great readers.

I'd love it if we can make The Writer's Little Book Club as much fun as the Puffin Club. So I thought you might like this tip for a very common writing challenge that faces us all at one time or another.

We all get stuck, bogged down and at a loss for words sometimes. But when it goes on, sometimes it takes a bit of a blast to lever us out.

How about using this tip - If being stuck with your writing was an animal what would it be?

The first time I tried that out, I came up with a rhinoceros standing on the path in front of me. Whoa I thought. So then my solution was definitely not to take it on! Instead I slid away from it - in writing terms I stopped trying to tackle the block head on and started to creep around the edge of the project instead. Did a part of it that was almost a copy and paste job.

And you know what - it worked - never thought it would but in my next writing session, the problem I'd seen with the writing just had disappeared and the words flowed.

Try it if you like - see what it does for you.