Deborah Cooke: Author

I’ve had a great week with TAW. Missed my morning pages only one day – because it was a crazy, hectic day – and missed them terribly on that day. The good thing was that I wasn’t working that day, so it didn’t make as much difference as it might have done. My artist date was cleaning and sorting stuff, as discussed at the beginning of the week. It took hours but was satisfying. I feel lighter, having gotten rid of things I felt obliged to keep instead of those I wanted to keep. And maybe there is more room for good stuff to arrive.

I also finished a revision. That’s something that is always good to get off the desk. REBEL has gone to copy editing now. Is that the end of my angels? It’s the end of the trilogy, that’s for sure.

In terms of writing, one of my goals is to strike a new balance between writing and reading. Traditionally, I haven’t read fiction when on deadline. The problem with this is that I get loaded up with work – no complaints about that, but it’s been ages since I read for pleasure on an ongoing basis. I do have these manic two-week reading binges between delivering a book and starting the next one, but want to find a more consistent and sustainable pattern. Reading is something that is important for me to stock my well, in Julia Cameron’s terms, but it’s also critical to leave enough room in my thoughts for my own ideas to shape and come to fruition. There’s a balance to be struck and I’m trying to renegotiate mine. Last week, I started to read for pleasure in the evening. It didn’t muck me up on the revisions, which was a good sign.

Week Four in TAW is reading deprivation week. This is a difficult exercise, but an extremely effective one. I’m hoping it helps me to find that new balance. But as a result of the deprivation exercise , I won’t be blogging this week. No new posts until next Monday – I’m hoping to have covers to show by then.

How about your work on TAW? Did you do your morning pages this week? Have any revelations about choices you’ve made that are keeping you blocked, or about new balances you need to strike to work sustainably and effectively? Did you go on your artist date? What did you do? How is TAW working for you?