How Split Personality is a Good Thing

It's amazing how often you discuss writing with people and come across the same quaint notions of what a writer is. (I'm not even going to touch the popular image where we are all filthy rich layabouts like the guy in Californication with agents who pander to our every whim.)

You hear things like:

"People say it's lonely being a writer. You spend your life alone."

Hmmn. Well I guess there is no physical person actually sitting beside you, but I'm sure most writers would agree its pretty crowded in that particular space. So many characters either trying to talk at once, or waiting their turn. Either way they and the universe you are trying to create are there with you.

Then, once the writing part is over and it's time to sell the manuscript, there is no such thing as simply wrapping the thing in brown paper, licking on the stamps, posting it off to some distant publishing house and waiting in the silent parlour for a reply. At least not anymore.

People talk about the writer living in the garret, working away in the bliss of artistic isolation. In this image the writer is uncomfortable with people, introverted to the point of dysfunction. Maybe they start that way.

All the successful writers I know are incredibly dynamic. They might be an introvert at heart, but they have all worked damn hard to become just about everything else as well. Effective networkers that can move through a crowd. Polished performers that rattle off anecdotes in a seemingly spontaneous manner, keeping a workshop or panel crowd entertained while simultaneously informing and promoting themselves and their work. Strategic thinkers who can plough their way through Internet sites and magazines and absorb a bird's-eye-view of the industry, much as any steel-trap minded lawyer or analyst might.

So who exactly is this author person? An artistic introvert at home in their own skin? A networker who delights in the company of others? A performer who feeds off the room? A cool-thinking analyst, capable of ruthlessly pursing their goals who would put Hannibal Barca to shame? Which one? All of them?

It's enough to put a psychologist into a mental hospital. How on earth can one person be all this?

Any clues? Have I missed out any additional split personalities?

Renew your Creativity

East Coast of Tasmania (Available from Desktop Pictures).

Jeff Vandermeer has done a post on Revitalising your Creativity in your Private Booklife. This is particularly applicable for me right now. I’ve been working all day marking assignments, then I’ve come home and worked late into the night on the edits of my KRK books. Over the weekend I had a 2am session and a 1am session to get the work done.

This is not good for me as a writer or as a mother/wife/person. If I were my own mother, I would say, It is time to take a step back, Rowena, and reassess your commitments.

Thank goodness, I’m headed off on a holiday for 8 days. My (long suffering) husband and I are going on a driving tour of Tasmania. That’s the little island at the bottom of Australia. It has a population of around 500,000 and almost a million people visit it every year. So that means if you meet 3 people, 2 of them are tourists. I can’t imagine how this works.

I’m hoping that the time in Tassie will allow me to finish the book I’ve been trying to write since January. I’ve only got another 140 pages to go. LOL. I’m also hoping it will give me a chance to think clearly about my work load, commitments and what I really want out of life.

I love writing, I enjoy editing, I can do promotion. Since my publisher thrust me in front of a microphone 10 years ago, I’ve learnt how to speak off the top of my head while on a panel and I can run a fun, informative workshop on writing.

Jeff Vandermeer’s done a post on the value of acknowledging constraints when it comes to Book Promotion. He makes some valid points. One of my good writing friends, Richard Harland is about to set off on a tour of the US and the UK to promote his steampunk book, Worldshaker.

He’s a real performer and loves to do readings. I shudder at the thought of readings. For me, books are meant to be read in the privacy of our heads. If they were meant to be read aloud, they’d be performance poetry or a play. I have to admire anyone who can make them entertaining, like Richard.

Amanda has very kindly agreed to put up my Tuesday post next week. I’ll be back on the Thursday, hopefully refreshed and renewed, ready to be creative!

Meanwhile, what do you do, when you need a break from life?