Even old school Hollywood films like 'The Sound of Music' encourage a 'go for it' mentality that has infected modern day living, and the life of 21st century artists. Successful writers don't pump iron, they pump genius, writing fatter and fatter books, getting bigger and bigger advances. You're 'hot' or very much 'not'. Everything is absolute, everything is extreme.
None of this is very helpful when you are trying to do the actual writing. I sometimes think it's a shame that writers can't focus more positively on the 'making' phase - there is no writerly equivalent of Barbara Hepworth's wonderful garden workshop in St Ives, or the beautiful, light-filled studio where Vanessa Bell worked at Charleston.
Which is relevant to my fourth suggestion for writing The Words. Don't climb every mountain. Don’t set yourself targets that can’t be sustained. Remember to enjoy yourself, even if the tools of your trade are a laptop and a mug of cooling tea.
