Back in the Saddle - Getting Back to a Writing Routine

Are you about to start something? Thinking of going back to something? Putting off going to a class or a group because it's a long time since you've been and it seems too much of an effort to get leave the house and get started again?

It's the time of year when we traditionally get back in the saddle, return to classes, resume hobbies that we stopped for the summer. My adult education students will be returning to their creative writing classes this week, and that got me round to thinking about how much harder it is to get started again than it is to simply keep going.

A couple of years ago, I was physically very active as I went to several dance classes a week, as well as swimming regularly and using my rebounder at home every day. All that went by the board this past year as I had a very heavy schedule of work commitments that clashed with my usual classes and often kept me at work on the computer till nearly midnight.

When I was in a regular routine, I automatically took part in my various activities without giving them a second thought. But having had a break, I am surprised at how difficult I am finding it to get myself back in the groove.

Take my salsa classes, for example. Every week, I say to myself, 'I must go back to salsa this week,' yet I always seem to find some excuse to put off going. Yet if I am to get fit again, I know that good intentions are not enough. I actually have to go to the class, put on my dancing shoes and get dancing.

I have come across lots of writers who have this sort of problem. They are going to write a novel one day. They really are. They have a really fantastic idea, but they just haven't got round to putting it on paper yet.

The trouble is that the vast majority of them never will. Being a writer is not just about having talent or imagination. It's about getting down to it. Putting pen to paper. Starting to write and keeping going till you reach the end of the novel. And then going back to the beginning and reworking it all until your book is in its final form.

It's a lonely business being a writer. Many people find it really difficult to shut themselves away and sustain a long project to the very end.

That's where writing classes and writing groups are invaluable. Once you have made the initial effort to go along and get involved in one, you look forward to going back, week by week or month by month, spending time with your fellow writers and hearing what they've written. It also spurs you on to make progress with your own writing so that you have something to share.

So if you've always wanted to write that novel, but never got round to it, why not join a writing class? Did I mention that I have room for a few more students in my Advanced Class? It's on Thursday evenings from 7 - 9 at The Manse Adult Education Centre in the centre of Huddersfield. Give the Centre a ring - (01484) 437150. Ask for Gale's Thursday writing class.

Meanwhile, I'll just go and dig out my salsa shoes...