As a reader, you usually don´t get to follow the many hours behind a writer´s work in progress. But here on this blog, I present you for a brutally honest view into how I work as a writer.
You typically don´t get to be close to a working witch either.
This blog post is written in honor to both working areas. They are my dear passions, my favorite creative worlds to conquer, and my kind of medicine bag to carry wherever I find myself.
At this very moment, I´m trying to learn to work well with the American English grammar. The theoretical stuff behind all the nice words.
Ah, and I make mistakes. Many. But I believe that the intense study of grammar, writing techniques, and other helpful concepts behind the life of a writer will make a positive difference for the quality of my novels to be.
I have long ago stopped counting the hours when I´m working with the passions of my creative life. I just know that it some days feels like extremely hard working conditions.
By that I don´t mean the settings for my writing and my work as a witch. I´m so privileged to have the necessary means and a small, but solid budget.
Besides that, I live in a big house where I have more personal space than I could ever have dreamt about. And everywhere, there is a special spot, where I can find my personal inner peace and be creative.
But I can tell you from my point of view that it is worth every split second of my life to be a writer and a witch. Together, they form my strong personal positive outlook on the world, the crazy world we all live in.
I turn to them whenever I feel overwhelmed, anxious, and painfully aware of my weaknesses. I choose them before anything else when working creatively, for they nurture my soul.
These weeks are intense working weeks, where I spent probably around 8-10 hours daily preparing to begin writing my novels in just a few weeks from now.
My body hurts from a bad chair solution that will improve as soon as I can afford to buy a gamer´s chair online. I dream about grammar, MacGuffins, and thrilling ideas for my novels.
But I have never been happier creatively than now.
Today is even one of the longer days where I don´t feel that I accomplish anything at all. But I know I do, because the pile of paper grows, the amount of files on the laptop increase, and the cell phone is included, too.
Denmark is under lockdown again. But this time, I feel more prepared. And staying home is never a problem to me anyway. I prefer that to feeling utterly alone in the outside world.
I feel safe here, not in the outside world. Not anymore. And not for a very, very long time, anyway.
I only go out when I absolutely have to, and it suits me just fine. I´m a solitary witch for very good reasons. And as a writer, I´m always alone when I write.
We have agreed that I wear my ear phones whenever I want absolute peace around me. And it should be important to interrupt me, unless I have forgotten everything about time and place and about the common sense in taking long breaks from time to time.
As a witch, I have chosen to work in solitude, but I usually share my rituals with my husband and close friends.
As a writer, I have chosen a solitary path, too, for who knows better the many hours behind a work in progress than the writer herself.
At times, if feels extremely uphill, especially when a deadline is closing in. My first deadline this coming writing year is February 1 2021. That day I will celebrate the Sabbath of Imbolc/Candlemas and begin writing my novels.
But I have yet so many things to read and write, before I truly can say that I´m ready for this new and slippery journey. Where you dare to believe enough in yourself, so that readers may do the same.
I know from my past where I have spent countless hours reading and writing that I perform best under a certain pressure from e.g. a deadline or my own ambitions.
So, I also know that there is plenty of time yet to enjoy and curse, depending on the weight on the shoulders on a given day.
I have to start believing more in myself, so Self, you are okay, it is only fair to feel both nervous and excited about the biggest project in my lifetime.
I have conquered my writer´s block by using 3 daily journal prompts to keep myself from the well of self-doubt. Thereby, I get to write something every day, and it can easily inspire to write my novels.
I decided to write my prompts in the evening, while listening to the TV, rather than watch it, for I have something with TV. I´m extremely picky with what I want to watch and listen to on TV.
The same strict standards, well, they go for my work as a writer and a witch, too.
So I study genre, thrillers, especially the psychological and scary ones, and other writers. I also make a virtue of necessity and keep close attention to what the reader expectations are of my genre.
I have a story, or more correct, stories to tell, sorry, more show than tell that is.
And I have prepared myself for the hundreds of thousands of hours that is needed to write 3 novels of approximately 100,000 words each.
Regarding witchcraft, I have spent a little more than four years now studying the old ways. And the studies continue, for as with writing, the work never stops when it comes to witchcraft.
There are always new tricks and twists to learn and master.
May your weekend be blessed with positivity, love, and kindness, dear readers and followers. May the world find peace with itself. And may people understand that grotesque violence and meaningless attacks on the institutions of democracy have no place anywhere whatsoever.
And so it is. Blessed be and stay safe.
The Northern Witch' s Blog 