Write Like a Grrrl

I've not done much writing recently. 

At the start of the school holidays (now a long and distant memory) I told myself that there was very little point trying to get anything written. After all, I had children to entertain and and so on. 

When they went back to school I told myself that I just needed a few weeks to get back into a routine. That I'd start again next week. 

Now I'm full of good intentions, sitting dutifully at the Chromebook most mornings after school drop off, browsing through my short story ideas before flicking over to Twitter and spending the next two hours reading about how everyone else is struggling to write something and spending their time on Twitter...

So, what exactly is holding me back? 

1. Fear of Missing Out 

A relatively new social media phenomenon called FOMO to those in the know (yes I spend too much time on social media). A fear that if you don't check your social media accounts almost constantly you'll miss out on something vitally important, such as that American bloke posting a new picture of his cat, or knowing what that woman in that TV programme you used to watch had for breakfast.

2. Lack of Inspiration

Kind of speaks for itself. No matter how hard I wish for it, the story elves never leave any ideas on the kitchen table just waiting to be discovered in the morning...maybe this only works for shoes? I'll start wishing for shoes instead. 

3. Fear of Failure

More fear, but perhaps more relevant is the fear of being crap. What if I write something and it's awful? What if I got someone to read it and they simply mumble something incoherent before running in the opposite direction rather than provide feedback? What if (God forbid) I put all the apostrophes and commas in the wrong place? What if...?

4. Life

The clothes need loading into the washer, the dinner needs putting in the slow cooker, the boys need taking to swimming lessons, the cat sick needs clearing up, the toilet needs bleaching, the carpet needs vacuuming, the beds need making...

...and so on and so forth.

So, what am I going to do about it?

Well, for starters I've booked myself into an intensive one day 'Write Like a Grrrl' creative writing workshop organised by 'For Books' Sake' this Saturday. They've promised that I'll learn to:

"push through doubt, reduce fear of the blank page, become disciplined in your practice and enjoy writing so much more."

Sounds fab and just what I need...now I'm just off to check their Twitter feed.

http://forbookssake.net/