For the last seven years I’ve juggled my writing around my job at the village GP surgery. Snatching early morning sessions when the household was still sleeping and late nights when a storyline just had to be written, but this month sees a great change in my daily routine. Sadly our much loved little surgery, the most remote in the UK, fell to NHS funding cuts and closed its doors to patients in August. Aside from the devastating loss of such a vital service in a rural community, I’ll miss the interaction with patients and colleagues, the community spirit and support and the frantic note-scribbling when eureka moments occurred, mid-surgery.
Harbottle Surgery
Now, for good or bad, I’m a full time writer and I’m both enthusiastic and a little daunted. I’ve written nine novels against the backdrop of stolen minutes and ridiculous deadlines, how will I adjust to this new freedom? Will my imagination and creativity fail me when presented with a nine-to-five regime? Will my, eureka moments, become contemplative, more eu and less eek? and will the lack of stimulus from the real world and its wonderful, larger than life inhabitants, negatively affect my writing? Only time will tell.
I have a new publisher, two new books to promote and four works in progress. Plenty to keep me busy and I suspect I will set my own ridiculous deadlines and snatch stolen moments as before, however in deference to the fact that I’m the least organised person I know, and I have chickens to feed, a dog to walk and a garden to tend, I decided to begin gently with a daily word count.
First day – minus 1,500. Oh well, lean and mean, those cuts were needed. Tomorrow, I’ll just write twice as much … And then there’s the book signings to arrange and the blog posts to write, oh and books to post and reviews to write…and all before coffee. I’ve banned the internet when I’m ‘working’ and cheated twice today. I don’t answer the phone – unless I forget – oops. And I don’t do ‘lunch’ unless I’m persuaded that it’s not merely lunch but a research trip – I’ve managed lots of research lately…
Ah, a writer’s work is never done.
Babs Morton was born in the North East of England, and as B.A.Morton writes across a number of genres including crime, romance, horror and historical fiction. After a twenty year civil service career, she and her family escaped the rat race and relocated to the remote beauty of the Northumberland National Park. She now lives in a cottage built on the remains of a medieval chapel.
A member of the Crime Writer’s Association and the International Thriller Writers, she is a self confessed crime fiction addict. In 2011, her debut novel “Mrs Jones” a crime thriller set in New York, took second place in the international literary competition, The Yeovil Prize, and launched her writing career. 2015 sees the release of two North East psychological thrillers Bedlam and Twisted with Caffeine Nights Publishing.
Website: http://bamorton.weebly.com/