Getting Started by Rachel Lynch

A writer’s existence is one of isolation, and in the past year, we’ve seen the whole of society experience this secret world of staying at home. It’s tough. It’s lonely, and sometimes it’s easier to throw in the towel and not write today, because you don’t have to. Unless there are looming deadlines, there’s always an excuse to interrupt your discipline for the day.

I’m a novelist so my deadlines are fairly protracted. I manage to deliver three books a year to my publisher, but it took a long time to work out a process that works for me. I have two teenagers, who have been home schooling for the best part of a year, and I have a life. Being my own boss can be lethal, and getting started is something that has become the most important habit I can share as something that really works. I used to go to the gym to start my day, then it closed. With four people working and studying in the house, I became the manager, and my writing slipped to the bottom of the pile. 

It’s my own fault, I’m useless at asking for help, but then a lot of us are. Asking for help should be celebrated as a strength not a weakness. This past year, we’ve figured out, as a family, that everybody has to do their bit, and for the first time, they’ve seen what I do at home. I have slowly taught myself to put my work higher on my list of priorities, and this is something positive that has emerged from the pandemic. Before, I squeezed everything I had to do in to a six hour window, when the children were at school. 

After 3.30 p.m., forget it. 

So when we all had to stay at home, my work collapsed. The house was full of needy people. Where did I fit in? I began writing at odd hours, desperately trying to keep a story going, dashing in between History and Maths lessons, making endless plates of food and tidying up. 

It had to stop.

I don’t know when it happened but I took a deep breath and said to hell with it. The pots can wait, the kids can do their own lessons, and the husband can make his own lunch. Taking control of my work was liberating, though not without issue. I still get tempted by admin trivia, and irritated by messy kids, but a walk with the dog usually sorts that out. I flipped the firefighting mentality on its head and decided how my day would look the night before; everything else can fit around that. 

I began opening my computer after breakfast and forcing myself to ignore all the other stuff, that usually gets done anyway. We created some better spaces for work and I asked for more help. I have an eight book series, soon to be nine, as well as a contract for three standalone novels, so there is constant pressure to produce work, but there are some things I’ve learned along the way that allow me to get started every day. I have shared these tips below, and hope they may spur on anyone else trying to complete something they’re passionate about.

Never sit down to write a hundred thousand word manuscript.
If I thought about completing the novel every time I opened my computer I’d never finish; that mountain is too high. I approach it like my character Kelly Porter would, climbing a peak in the Lake District: one summit at a time. 

Always leave a chapter unfinished.
It took me a while to get in to the habit of doing this. It works for me because then, when I come back the next day, I already know what I’m writing. If I leave a manuscript at the end of a chapter I’ve got to sit and ponder how to start the next one, and that wastes my time. Joining mid-chapter gets my creative juices going and, by the time the next chapter comes, I know what I’m going to say, and which character will star in it.

View yourself as having several jobs.
Being a writer is to possess a collection of very different skills and, by adopting this mind-set, I get bored rarely. Sometimes I will spend a day purely creating, and this is fun because I know I can’t make any mistakes, how can I? It’s instinct at work, right? My agent once said to me, ‘Put away your notes and use instinct over intellect,’ and it was the best piece of advice I’ve ever been given.

Any mistakes, big or small, can be ironed out in the edit. That’s another hat, and one that uses another part of my brain. Editing reminds me of when I was a secondary school teacher, marking History and English essays. Sometimes I can’t believe how appalling my grammar has been when I’ve had my creative hat on, but that’s why I enjoy editing; it’s clean and tidy. Other days I might be a researcher, interviewing professionals such as policemen and women, or looking up autopsies, serial killers or weapons. Occasionally, I write an article like this one and I have the pleasure of finishing it the same day I started: a rare treat for a novelist. 

Congratulate yourself every day.
Because enough is good enough. We’re all our own worst critics and see failure way before we see success. Even if I only write one chapter all day, that’s still getting closer to the top of the mountain, and writing a novel is about chipping away at it, chapter by chapter. I keep my expectations real because I know that way the book will get finished on time, and then I’ll be researching the next one and editing final drafts of the last one.   

Use the ABC technique.
This is planning your day around priorities. ‘A’ denotes the things that need doing in the next hour, and this might be a plot change in a chapter that has been bugging you the night before. ‘B’ indicates what needs to be achieved this week, and that might be a final edit for the publisher. ‘C’ covers those jobs that need tackling in the coming month, and this could be the final ten chapters: the push to the top after all that hard work. ABC works for me, and most important of all, it orders my head, so I can get started.

 

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Rachel Lynch grew up in Cumbria and the lakes and fells are never far away from her. London pulled her away to teach History and marry an Army Officer, whom she followed around the globe for thirteen years. A change of career after children led to personal training and sports therapy, but writing was always the overwhelming force driving the future. The human capacity for compassion as well as its descent into the brutal and murky world of crime are fundamental to her work.

 

THE RIFT

To save one life, she risks many others.

Working for the Royal Military Police, Major Helen Scott is used to rapid change. On a posting to Paris she oversees security for a NATO summit in the city, yet has barely begun before her presence is demanded at Interpol headquarters in Lyon.

Helen’s orders are to locate a kidnapping victim – the eldest son of oil magnate Khalil Dalmani. The main suspect is Fawaz bin Nabil, whose fortune has been made from illegal trade familiar to the intelligence agencies.

Helen knows the pain of loss and won’t rest until Khalil’s child is found. Along the way, she crosses paths with old faces and forms new alliances. But who will betray her trust?

A stunning new thriller from the author of the acclaimed DI Kelly Porter novels and a rising star in British crime fiction.

 

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Category: How To and Tips