I love it when I get new stuff in, particularly if I have had a creative surge and a managed to get a whole heap of manuscript writing done – It’s always great when things are going well, it’s a wonderful feeling to make solid progress on something as complicated as a manuscript – but there is another reason why I like it and that reason is that I can now use it for further inspiration.

That’s right, that new stuff works in more ways than one.

I don’t read through my manuscript-in-progress every day. That quickly becomes impossible. It’s not a good idea in any case. The best way to see your work clearly is to shelve it for a bit so you can see it with fresh eyes and a clear mind. That said, it is – at the same time – important to read your work many times through the creative process to be sure everything is as it should be as you progress.

There are many chosen ways of balancing this, I’m sure, but when I have to read, I make good use of it. I read when I hit a problem, slow down or somehow lose my way, which is easy to do when  you’re handling multiple threads, especially if you have been shuffling things around. That’s when I sit down and read through what I have created to date.

This practice of reading through only at problem times not only allows me to check how it stands so far, it also helps me get a fresh feel for the threads and weight and balance, but on top of that, it gives me a huge boost to continue on and often clears up whatever that problem was that stopped me in the first place!

That’s mainly because of the new stuff.

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