First, can I say that if you\u2019re a member of the Writers\u2019 Guild of Great Britain, you\u2019ll be getting a postal ballot soon, which includes where you need to vote for me to continue as Deputy Chair.<\/p>\n
Okay, it\u2019s the same spot where you could instead vote for either of two others who are standing for the post. Plus you\u2019ll see a pitch from each of us and I think you\u2019ll agree that the three candidates are strong ones. We need that strength more than ever now because these are such hard times for writers so I think it\u2019s tremendous that there is a range of candidates for my job.<\/p>\n
Er, I mean for the job. Obviously.<\/p>\n
Equally obviously, if you have a vote in this, you must use it the way you think best. But I suggest it\u2019s probably just more convenient to put a tick next to my name.<\/p>\n
Look at me: next thing you know, I\u2019ll be out kissing babies and doing hustings. Which I swear to god I used to think was a dance. Arguably, it is.<\/p>\n
Anyway. This matters to me enormously and I don\u2019t seem to be able to hold a thought in my head that I don\u2019t immediately say to you. But it wasn\u2019t what I wanted to say.<\/p>\n
What I wanted to say was something that\u2019s quite possibly naive of me, but I think is also hopeful \u2014 and at least this week, I think it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n
If you write, good things happen. If you stop writing, they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Now, I don\u2019t mean that everything you or I write is gold and will be commissioned or fulfil a commission. I don\u2019t even mean anything to do with whatever it is you\u2019re writing. I mean the act of getting on with it, of writing even though times are hard, it does something for us.<\/p>\n
For one thing, you can hide in your writing and I\u2019ve had times when I\u2019ve really needed to do that.<\/p>\n
But also there is something about practicing our craft that seems to me to enable that craft. Hopefully I get better at writing over time, but if I do, it is solely because of writing a lot.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s the example, the reason why this is on my mind this week even when the election stuff is going on. On Sunday, I finished a book project. I have not one thin clue what will happen with it next, except that I will doubtlessly restart it and maybe rewrite it, I don\u2019t know. But I got to the end of a project I\u2019ve put off for years.<\/p>\n
As I was making every conceivable backup copy of that project, though, another equally old and long-running book project sprang back to life. I shouldn\u2019t be this excited because it died quite thoroughly more than a decade ago, but I am absolutely giddy about it. Talking mile-a-minute. Remembering obscure anecdotes interviewees told me off the record when I was originally researching it back in the day.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t really have a thin clue what will happen with this one. But I know that there is nothing like the absolute thrill of getting to write something that matters to you.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d tell you what the two projects are, except I suppose they\u2019re secret and anyway, I\u2019d be more mysteriously exciting if I don\u2019t reveal it.<\/p>\n
Tell you what, vote for me and I\u2019ll tell you. That\u2019s what you want from the Writers\u2019 Guild, none of this fighting for our rights and our conditions and our money, you want obscure titles that will entirely make you shrug.<\/p>\n
But truly, pushing on with writing, being unusually happy with what you\u2019re producing, god, there\u2019s nothing like it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First, can I say that if you\u2019re a member of the Writers\u2019 Guild of Great Britain, you\u2019ll be getting a … Continue reading