By Cathie Young
I need a deadline. It is the thing that always keeps me writing. OR and this is the best, a project collaboration! Working with others. It keeps the juices running and it’s fun. Writing and not knowing if your work is going to be seen by others is a bit of cold pudding; it just sits there and forms a scum. But if you have a deadline in mind, it keeps the pot bubbling. And sharing stove time is even better. That’s why I have loved working with my sisters at Wet Ink, having a weekly deadline is invigorating. It’s also really fun to hear the work of others and especially having the privilege of knowing pieces from conception to creative birth. I have some amazing plays, blogs and tv series in my head. A running tape of my sisters’ work, that I can pull up, whenever I like, in my own personal PVR and view.
And what will be really exciting is when I sit down and compare notes: my imagination versus the accomplished work of the completed production. Can’t wait!
A competition is also a great task master. I just finished a short story entry and it was quite the exercise to take a radio play that I had written and rework it as a short story. What was even better, was to have a target of 3500 words and hone the piece, like a rock gem in a tumbler, into something new and shiny.
So I would say for me the best thing to get me writing is a deadline. That’s my carrot and it, funnily enough, is never a stick.