Until we meet again

And so my period as writer in residence here at Booktrust have come to an end. And what a time. In the past six months, I’ve:

Run a marathon

Written 20 blogs

10 sets of writers’ tips

And a short story.

Was interviewed but some extremely clever students.

Did a couple interviews, including with Australian radio.

And even had a lesson plan written for me. Which is oddly nice.

And in that time, I’ve also finished writing my own book, which was the hardest thing of all, but the reason (I hope) that you all read this. 

Because all along, this residency was meant first and foremost to de-mystify the writing process. All those nervous questions I constantly get asked here and at Festivals and on my own website seem to me to be rooted in the same anxiety:

The fallacy that there’s one right way to write a book.

There isn’t. There just isn’t. If you finish writing your book, you’ve done it right. I do it one day, others do it other ways, and you will find your own path. 

The best (and final) advice I can ever give about writing is to know yourself. Write to your own strengths, to the things that will work for you best, and for God’s sake, don’t quit.

I could go on (and on and on and on) but I won’t. I hope I’ve been of some help to you aspiring writers out there. Even more, I hope to one day read the very interesting, very personal books you’ll be publishing.

For now, though, please join me in a very, very warm welcome to Nii Parkes, the new writer in residence, who’s going to be bloody brilliant.

And with that, I say goodbye to you with grand wishes of great good luck.

Now, get back to your writing.