So Much Writing, So Little Time

One of the delights of writing is that there's so much of it to explore - it's like a great big playground. 

On the subject of which, I always think the lawn at the Swanwick Writers' Summer School is a fine metaphor for the point. It's the heart of the gathering, where writers stop to exchange thoughts and feelings, or just to think and write.

I've been fortunate in my career to start off as a journalist, then move into writing crime novels, then teaching. But even that combination only feels like taking a few small steps into the playground.

A particular pleasure of teaching this summer - and there were many - is trying out other writers preferred styles of the craft. It gives you new ideas and fresh energy. I popped into workshops on short story writing, young adult fiction, and even romance -

(Don't worry, I won't be attempting that genre - given I never got the hang of it in real life, I accept my chances of writing successfully about it are... )

But I did love the idea of trying a short story and have been outlining some ideas, just to see if I can do it. What a challenge; setting up the characters, a plot, the setting, and an ending in just a few thousand words or less.

(And isn't that one of the recurring themes of the love of writing - continually testing ourselves?)

So for me, that's another of the many appeals of this writing life; there's so much of it to experience. And that I plan to do.

Perhaps the only downside is there can never be enough time in life for all the writing I'd like to try.