My Writing Routine
This is my favourite topic!
I’ve written about it in newsletters and blogs.
Essentially, I don’t work like a majority of authors.
For a start, I can’t work in public places as the noise would
disrupt me. As a practising psychologist, my writing happens
every chance I get between patient consultations, meetings
and conferences. I write weekends, early mornings prior to work,
evenings, nights and during holidays. In fact, I’ve not had a break
for a very long time. I enjoy my line of work very much but writing
is my passion. Both fit well together as my day job perfectly fit with
my genre, Character Driven Psychological Thrillers With A Noir Edge.
My writing routine:
Irrelevant of when I work on a book, I always work at my desk in my home
or work office. No disruptions, calls, messages, nothing except what I focus
on there and then. I read through what I’ve written the last time to get a sense
structure, sequence and, most importantly, a feel for the characters and storyline.
Without a flow and prose, points of views and being part of the scenes and dialogues,
my characters wouldn’t come across as intended.
I write in long stretches, so for ex if writing early mornings and late evenings
and weekends and holidays, I always work for at least four to five hours after
which I have a break, an hour’s walk to clear my mind, playing with my cat, Teddy,
who faithfully sits next to me in his old wooden box or in a favourite chair.
I continue working on my book/books for at least another four to five hours,
edit that day’s work and make notes on what to work on, improve and much more
prior to the next writing session. I write biographies of all characters, their interaction,
similarities and differences. My characters drive the storyline so must be satisfied
they come across as real people, relatable and identifiable.
The Swedish part of me is very organised, structured and self disciplined. All of it
helps to keep me ahead of deadlines and time to return to parts of the storyline
and plot that require more attention. You’d be right thinking my characters take
some time to create, develop further and the storyline evolves around them.
It’s the reason I prefer to write a synopsis later, usually when mid through the novel.
Because only then will I know exactly what outcome and tie up loose ends.
I’m Anglo Swedish, my birth place is Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city.
I’ve been a performing musical artist when younger, come from a very cosmopolitan
family and background, British and Swedish parents. I’m bilingual and so far lived
longer in the U.K. than my native Sweden. I love writing every chance I get,
love my day job and all the wonderful people I get to meet and counsel.
I love animals and sports, couldn’t imagine a life without literature and am a ferocious
reader, mainly of my own genre, as well as cross reading.
I enjoy long conversations, travelling, lots of getting togethers over Fika ( coffee breaks ) In lovely cafes, parks and beaches, the spectacular scenery and nature in Malmö
and similar places in London.
I communicate well with all kinds of people, carry a notebook when out and about
even on the bedside table in case I come up with new ideas for characters and stories
when asleep! Characters come to me when I least expect it, and premises for
new storylines. I’ve so far never suffered with writer’s block and have many books
just waiting to be written in the foreseeable future. I make notes of new casts
of characters and novels, short stories and blogs. I enjoy socialising with special
people, friends and family, eating and cooking are favourite pastimes.
I’m very grounded, extremely communicative and a good listener.
Quite simply; I love life and have a positive outlook and attitude.
What you have written, past and present.
So far, I’ve written five books. Because Of You, We Never Said Goodbye,
His Guilty Secret, and One Fatal Night which was published recently.
I’ve also written a short story collection, Who’s Sorry Now?
I’m working on my next psychological thriller, The Matchmaker.
What you are promoting now.
One Fatal Night, set in Norway with an explosive plot, protagonists
and many twists and turns.
Do you plan or just write?
I work to a brief plan, write the first couple of drafts and edit after I’ve finished
the novel after which I and my editor collaborate on the editing process.
My writing’s very intuitive, the characters come first so must feel the storyline
works for and with them or I’ll change the story while still keeping the initial premise.
I don’t worry about that as long as everything fits with what I intended.
My debut novel’s word count is over 140000 words, the others between
50-100.000.
How do you do your structure?
I know exactly the sequence of what must follow each chapter.
So no detailed synopsis until mid through the novel, but a very clear
and detailed content for each chapter and, of course, much emphasis
on my characters.
What do you find hard about writing?
Getting the inspiration when I’m tired after a long day’s work.
The isolation of working on my own with no one to discuss ideas with.
Apart from that, writing comes natural to me since I’m very used to working
without company and quite enjoy it. Living with my characters!
What do you love about writing?
The progress when getting the characters and storylines just right.
Feeling my characters emotions, being there in the scene with them,
and excitement when the story turns out just like I planned and intended.
Significantly, holding the book and feeling a sense of pride I Did it!
Getting positive feedback and comments from my readers mean the world to me.
Advice for other writers.
Always write what you want and what comes natural to you.
Don’t follow trends and Never copy other authors.
Your voice and uniqueness are what truly makes you special.
I never read when writing my books and stories for fear others work
will influence me subconsciously.
Having a positive attitude helps a lot too! Oh, and patience!
‘It is the desire to represent the world not as we see it, but the way it actually is’, is the driving force behind this Cornishman’s work. A native of Porthtowan on the wind swept Cornish granite coast, Simon Smith is essentially a modern day cubist. He’s a former Truro Schoolboy (the posh school) and a carries, amongst other qualifications, a degree in fine art – mentored by the great Welsh painter and printmaker David Carpanini.
After a successful career in business Simon essentially retired back home to Cornwall by buying and running a pub, and most importantly returning to his first love of art. “The iconic mining ruins of the heritage coast lend themselves perfectly to the painter,” he says, “with the endless sweeping sky and rolling ocean as the perfect partner”. His home and pub, in Porthtowan, are situated just a dozen miles up the coast from the iconic artist centre of St Ives and the hub of Cornish creativity.
But why cubism? “I love to draw and financially speaking I gain a steady little income from my pointillist drawings of local sea life and fauna but, as rewarding as they are to complete, they don’t push the limits. Cubism on the other hand gives me the opportunity to push my limits to the maximum and really work at representing the 4th dimension of time.” And time is clearly important to him in his work with one beautiful triptych showing the not only a cubist sea/cliff scape but also the changing seasons from Spring to Autumn.
