I’ve been thinking recently that I’ve not being getting the balance
right – then I started to wonder what I meant about getting the balance right.
And I realised there were two aspects to this.
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| Trying to get the balance right between this ... |
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| ... and this |
Firstly, there’s my personal life and the balance I was
thinking about was about time alone (mostly but not solely to write) and time
with other people. I’m an introvert and I LOVE time alone. Moving to this new
house has been ideal from that point of view. It’s a long way from anywhere and
there is little chance of passers by dropping in, definitely no traffic noise,
etc. It would be all too easy to spend days if not weeks without seeing anyone
at all.
And much as I love solitude, I do love seeing people, too.
And if I want to see people, living out here means I have to make an effort to
do that. To organise for visitors to come here, or for me to go elsewhere.
After a flurry of visitors over the summer we have very little lined up. So
note to self – you need to make this effort. Not just because I enjoy the
occasions for themselves, but also because afterwards they leave me with a new
view on the world, new information, new ideas for writing. And an even greater
enjoyment of said solitude!
Secondly, there’s my writing. Getting the balance right in
my writing between my adult and teen novels isn’t always easy. But the most
difficult thing is getting the balance right within a novel, that perfect
mixture of romance, setting, character, action. How do people manage that? The
best books make it look effortless. Maybe it is for some people, but not for
me. I’ve been trying to plot my novels more, and, although this hasn’t been
completely successful, it has allowed me to keep track of what is happening
when (and sometimes, more importantly, what is NOT happening). It’s all about
that dreaded word, pace, varying it and – yes – getting the balance right. It’s
not something that comes naturally but I think
I’m learning some of the tricks that will help me achieve it.
How do other people manage to balance everything in their
own lives and work?
