Writing Timeline

Jan 2008. Earliest document of TRP I have saved.

Sep 2017. Joined writing group year 1.

Sep 2018. Year 2.

Jan 2019. Writing retreat to Kerala, India.

Mar 2019. Retreat to Essaouira, Morocco.

Jul 2019. First full draft of TRP completed.

Aug 2019. Year 3.

Nov 2019. Retreat to Venice, Italy.

Mar 2020. Retreat to Essaouira, Morocco.

Editing.

Sep 2023. Began looking for a publisher.

Jan 2024. Signed with Cranthorpe-Millner publishers.

28 Jan 2025, Book to be launched.

Before 2017, writing had been sporadic. I lacked the discipline to finish what I'd started. There was a determination to reach that finish line but I wasn't enjoying the process. This led to gaps, a couple were a year and more. One time I returned to it and I didn't know who half the characters were. This was never going to work.

I found a drop-in writing class at a local Arts Centre. The ones where you don't have to turn up for a set number of evenings or the organiser gets tense. Each evening was its own experience with different tutors. One of them, Claire, had just started up her own groups. I joined a year later and stayed with them for three years.

The groups offered me a chance to meet other writers who were keen on producing a final product. Working with them gave me the consistency I needed. That elusive discipline became mine to own. For the writing, there were a few things I benefited from, the main one was how to turn a blank sheet into a page of text.

The retreats were a great experience. Travel somewhere new, write for several hours then head out to experience the city and its food.

The writing groups were a good mix of work and socialising. It's good to find your niche. Finding the people like you and sharing in each other's amazing writing. I'm back to writing on my own and doing every day. I'm enjoying it now.

It's been a long road from start to finish. I've learned a few things since 2008. I think that's the key. I didn't know where to start so I wrote when it interested me. When I reached the limits of my abilities, I found classes. They gave me the confidence to step up to dedicated writing groups.

The editing was hard but necessary. Hard because ideas and phrases that I'd created and thought were good were cut out. Necessary because my grip on the language wasn't as firm as I'd believed.

TRP has taken me at least 16 years and it's not done yet.

Keep moving forward. A little each day. It's all too easy to stop. You'll get there.