When done is better than good

One of the perks of being a writer is the company you get to keep. Earlier this week, I spent the day talking to 400 Year 7 and Year 8 students about my time travel adventure book Running with Ivan.  When a couple of the students asked for writing tips, I was reminded of a conversation I recently had with Pip Williams, author of the internationally bestselling novels, The Dictionary of Lost Words, and The Bookbinders of Jericho. Pip surprised me with the revelation that she is dyslexic and is grateful to have been encouraged her not to see this as a barrier to her creativity. In light of her own experience, Pip encourages school teachers to allow their students to write creatively without drawing their attention to spelling and grammar mistakes. Spelling and grammar should certainly be learnt, developed and corrected but not, Pip believes, in the context of creative writing where the goal is to give the students confidence in exploring their creativity.

It occurred to me that this is not dissimilar to the freedom I give myself when embarking on the first draft of a new novel Generating new work is difficult and the only way I can cajole myself into getting started is to reassure myself that, at this stage of the manuscript, quality is less important that simply generating material.  

This week, the world has lost one of its literary giants, Cormac McCarthy. He holds a special place in my heart, partly becauseThe Road was the first gift from my husband, David, when we'd only just started seeing each other.