Background Work

I haven't been writing a lot lately, not enough for that matter. That's probably why the writing section is the last section of the site to get it's first content. It's not writer's block as such, I can still write but I seem to be too busy with other things most of the time. There always seems to be something to distract me.

I've managed to get back in the game the last few days, not with writing but with what I'd like to call background work. It's a simple two word description, but it covers a lot of ground. I haven't done nearly everything included in it in the past few days, but my efforts have ranged from researching Roman Britain to writing the personal history of a character living several hundred years in the future. It seems strange that this is what's getting me back in the saddle, because this is the part of writing I used to do least of.

It makes me wonder if this is part of the process of my maturing as a writer, or simply a change in style. I used to plunge in and just see where it got me. Now I seem to be doing the work (in some cases retroactively) to set things up. Plunging in has served me well, I have four finished novels sitting on my two hard drives, back-up CDs, my USB-disk, and in two cases in a bookcase as printouts from my own printer. (You may have noticed that I tend to keep a few back-ups, just in case.)

In the end it doesn't matter whether or not this is part of my maturing process as a writer. Though the question remains interesting it's not very relevant. I've always believed, and still do believe, that the most important thing about any part of writing technique is that it has to work for the person doing the writing. Just jumping in without looking back has worked for me in the past, doing the background work seems to be working for me now.

Articles