CREATIVE MASOCHISM

By Richard Jay Parker

Bizarrely my life revolves around one thing at the moment – writing. This unusual state of affairs has sneaked up on me and caught me completely unawares. So, although my calendar is steadily filling up with fun promotional outings and appearances and I’m looking forward to debating on two panels at the forthcoming Crimefest I’m having to focus on the filthy business of filling pages.

It’s the rewrite for book 2 and it’s steadily shaping up but it’s a time vacuum that swallows daylight and free time. You won’t find me bemoaning my lot though because that’s what I signed on the dotted for. However, my writing routines don’t leave room for much else. Some writers are chippers – gradually hewing their words across many months. I’ve always been an exploder. I think about a project for a good while, make copious notes and then knuckle down to the writing in a concerted and concentrated couple of months of writing.

It’s the reason I was never very good at co-writing TV scripts. Other writers like to perfect every line before moving on whereas I want to get everything down even if it’s rough around the edges. Once it’s on the page the fun for me then is the intense refine and edit. Getting the rough clay is the hardest part.

So that’s where I am at the moment - mid-explosion and looking at the summer promo months as a reward for getting through it - conscientious writer autopilot on in the meantime. I don’t really like to slow down though so chances are that as soon as this project has been completed to everyone’s satisfaction I’ll be onto the next. I was already a third of the way into another project when I started reworking 2.

Glutton for punishment? Please miss, can I have some more?

www.richardjayparker.com