A writers solstice

Mark Hayes

June 20

I have always been fond of the above quote. It comes form Stephen King's memoir/guide to the craft of writing, On Writing . A book I recommend to anyone looking to progress in the craft. It is also a quote I have been singularly failing at of late having read far less than I would like and barely written two words since about February.

As far as writing is concerned this is not especially unusual, I very much run through peeks and troughs with the craft as many writers do. It is slight more unusual to find I have read very little (in my terms) in the first six months of this year, though not entirely unprecedented. I do most of my reading at night, and sometimes mental exhaustion sets in more than others.

My to read pile is rather larger than normal, and I have been struggling to be enthralled by much of what I have read of late. Generally this is less to do with what I am reading and more to do with my state of mind.

In essence I have fallen out of good habits, in terms of writing and reading, and fallen into bad ones., but today is the summer solstice, this seems a good time to reflect on one of the most important aspects of my life, my sense of self, and who I wish to be and restructure my mindset. In short another Stephen King quote comes to mind...

With that in mind I am determined to make myself go to bed a little earlier each evening to make time for reading. I don't just read in bed, but it has always been my habit to do so. I need to reinvigorate that habit.

I am also going to make time to write, another good habit I have let fall away of late. My goal is is always to write 500 words a day on whatever my current WIP is. The reason for that is if you can make yourself write 500 words you will find more often than not you will write a 1000 or more. But you have to put pen to paper first, or finger to keyboard at any rate.

Writing is and always has been my passion. I do not need to write to be happy, but not writing makes me unhappy. I need to feed that passion, and stock the fires. It was a hard winter, and a strange spring. But the sun is rising over the hedge and it is time for a summer.... It is time for tall cold drinks with fruit in them, and furious tapping at the keys...