My days are jam packed at the moment with students, carol service planning and committee meetings. (I love the first two; committees are simply a necessary evil.) But even in the busiest phases of term I try to fit in some writing somewhere – even if I have to skip lunch or get up stupidly early to do it. It’s work of a kind, I suppose, but it’s the thing that keeps me sane. Some people like to worry away at a Sudoku or something; I’d rather worry at the necessary compromise between correct syntax and readability to make a paragraph right.

I picked up two little writing gems this week from two completely different writers – Chris Priestley and Belle Du Jour.

Chris Priestley writes fantastic books, buy them for your kids for Christmas. This is what he says about writing:

Sometimes this process is like whittling a piece of wood, honing it and perfecting it, sometimes its like trying to catch a trout with you’re bare hands, another time it can be like doing one of those wooden puzzles where the pieces will only work if put together in one particular way.

Belle Du Jour was all over the paper recently, her identity finally revealed. She was something of a blog-phenomenon, not just because of the content, but because of her unprecedented success at remaining anonymous, even while negotiating book deals.  She also said some noteworthy things about the writing process:

1. Get writing.
It was a far more prolific and talented writer than me who once said ‘don’t get it right, get it written.’ In the last week alone I’ve witnessed an endless discussion of whether Scrivener was the right writing tool, what word count is considered sufficient day’s work, and how to find a good agent – all by people who have, as yet, not completed a single book between them…
2. Stay writing.
Once the ball is rolling, keep it rolling.Have you heard of the Jerry Seinfeld method? Don’t break the chain. Even if it never sees the light of day, write something every day, make it a habit. Make it your job to write regularly, even if it doesn’t pay (yet). Better yet, edit your writing every day too. Genius is the relentless application of attention.