There are lists of things keeping me away from writing. My characters get angsty. Do yours?
My characters are usually Irish. For obvious reasons, I set most of my work in Ireland.
And Ireland is the ‘land of saints and scholars’. With a small population, the Emerald Isle churns out many artistic souls. Story-telling is a deep-rooted part of our culture. Folklore, mysticism, religion, conflicts, emigration, and famine feed the wealth of our imaginations. And Irish people in general are patient souls. We’re placid, chatty, smiley, open, and laid back. Sometimes to the point of being horizontal. But our wildness can appear out of nowhere. We can spill into song, fighting spirit, and tall tales. The cliche is not always far from the truth.
And hence my Irish characters will wait for me to return, but if I don’t… there is hell to pay.
One such character is Sonas, a feisty, Irish princess in this hot Viking romance series.
Now and again, she’ll visit me with the next idea and I’ll ignore her because I’m knee-deep in another character’s arc. She doesn’t like this. Neither do I.Presently, the character taking me to her world is Angel McLaughlin. She’s a contemporary Irish American with a very troubled love life. She gets pissed if I move away to write Substacks. She’s right because once a writer leaves it’s damn hard to turn her head.
As a pantser I don’t usually plot. I might have a fair idea of where the character is headed but usually, they change their minds or the twist is news to me as well. I love writing and finding the character leading me. That’s most of the fun.
Right now, Angel is niggling and Sonas is downright screaming. Yet here I procrastinate. I’ve other characters who are more patient, but now and then I get guilt pangs and return to be with them again.
If you write many titles, do your characters wait patiently or poke at your imagination?
And then there’s the list…
— Think about Substack.
— Think some more about Substack.
— Decide on the purpose of my Substack…My readers don’t need advice. My writing groups are flying without me. What the fuck am I doing here? Eh?
— Put on a wash.
— Empty the dishwasher.
— Make more tea.
— Find chocolate. Can’t find any.
—Declutter wardrobe and let tea go cold.
— Bring bags to charity shop.
— Linger in shop and fill bags with more shit you don’t need.
— Buy chocolate biscuits.
—Make more tea and devour biscuits.
— Think about Substack.
— Decide on a title and purpose of this newsletter.
— Despair at dodgy title and lack of coherent direction.
—Open work in progress.
—Sigh.
Asking myself many of the same questions. xo