CHAPTER FIVE AND THE PAINFUL TRUTH ABOUT WRITING
by Sheridan Winn ‘What’s it like being a writer?’ ‘Are you disciplined and start at the same time each day?’ ‘Do you listen to music when you write?’ ‘How many words do you write in a day?’ ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ It’s wonderful and awful; no; absolutely not (words have their own rhythm and music interrupts the flow); anything between 50 and 5000; and, I have no idea, they’re just there when I need them, I reply. How does one explain that writing is as excruciating as it is exhilarating? Sometimes, you explain, the words creep along the page, sometimes they tumble out and, sometimes, if you’re really lucky and get ‘in the zone’, they will fly. ‘So what’s your typical day?’ they ask. This is how it often is. 10.00am. Coffee, strong and black, or a large pot of gunpowder and mint tea with some honey; either will guarantee I will need to go to the loo umpteen times in the next hour or so. Necessary preparation Ready to roll...