Seven days in the garret – day 1

Never one to shirk a challenge, I have holidays accrued from my full-time day job so I decided to conduct an experiment on writing. Seven days in the garret will test my ability to live as a full-time writer, working from my own garret, for a week. Unsurprisingly.

I wander through my life muttering the words, “If I had my way I’d write all day long, I love writing, it’s my passion.” However, I also love the city, my office and my colleagues and my job. My home is full of distractions such as food, social networking, the dog, social networking, the cat, TV, Eric, social networking, music, going out, social networking, sleep, washing and ironing. You get the picture. Ah. The picture. Here’s a picture of my untidy garret and it’s not pretty.

Anyhow, I have two projects this week to keep me occupied. First, I’m in the process if completing a non fiction book called Identity, Health and Women for Palgrave Macmillan. It’s written and I’m editing. It’s contracted so I have to do it. By day seven I wasn’t it to be in a publishable state.

Second, I’m about a third through a new novel, The Waiting List. I’ve had the first three chapters and the premise critiqued and it’s a runner. I love writing fiction and can’t wait to get out of bed and create this novel.

So the challenge (apart from working in my untidy garret!) emerges: will I resist the distraction of my home and my novel and finish the identity book? Follow me over seven days of blog updates to find out how my time spans out, how many day job related phone calls I get, how many Tweets I manage and how much weight I gain while spending a full week devoted to writing.

I’m still wearing my dressing gown as I type this.