Writing Magazine April 2020

66 APRIL 2020 http://www.writers-online.co.uk

S

urprisingly, I think knitting might be a very good idea,

Barbara. Or embroidery or macramé or bonsai-growing.

Anything to clear your mind, and give you something new to

focus on.

For it sounds to me, as if you are going through a period of

adjustment and you may simply need to take the pressure off yourself.

Retirement – with all those endless free hours stretching in front

of you – sounds wonderful, but as you are finding, it can take some

getting used to. You are accustomed to routine and structure and

your writing taking place on particular days in a certain way – at the

weekends, with an urgency – because time is short. Now you have

all the time in the world, that’s bound to be disconcerting. The word

‘empty’ jumped out at me. You seem to be experiencing quite a void.

For that reason, it’s important not to let the non-writing become

a source of stress. Because this will be self-defeating. It is okay not to

achieve something every single day. After years of working hard, why

shouldn’t you watch TV and relax before you assess what you want

to do with this next stage of your life? Also try not to berate yourself.

Your response to the change in your lifestyle is not unusual.

I remember receiving a letter from someone who’d taken six months

off work to write a novel and was panicking because four weeks in

she’d barely started. I sympathised! I was a lot more focused and

prolific when I was juggling a toddler and a small business than I am

now, when in theory I have all day, every day, to write.

I think it’s known as Parkinson’s law – that ‘work expands so as to

fill the time available for its completion’. In other words, if you have

one short story to write in a month, it will take a month. If you only

have your lunch-hour, you’ll knock out a first draft in that.

When circumstances change, one has to find new rhythms. So be

easy on yourself. Get used to this more leisurely life.

Knit by all means, take walks, see your friends, dig the garden. And

remember that mindless TV is good for finding plots, pottering is an

Jane Wenham Jones

advises

a recently retired writer whose

creative flow has dried up

to give herself the time

she needs to adjust

to a big life change

When I had a job, I used to write all the time but now I am retired,

I haven’t put a word on paper or screen for weeks. I only think about

writing. Short stories are what I enjoy writing, even though I’ve not

had any successes as yet. But now that the short story market has

shrunk, it feels like a waste of time as there’s nothing to aim for. A

novel feels too daunting. When I was working all week, I used to spend

many hours in the evenings and at the weekend at my laptop, trying to

squeeze out as many words as possible but now my days are empty, I

watch mindless television, potter around the house doing unimportant

tasks and suddenly it’s bedtime and nothing has been achieved. I don’t

know what’s wrong with me. Should I take up knitting and forget the

whole writing lark?

BARBARA WOOD

Sutton Coldfield

Lost for

words