In for a penny...by Cathy Ace

(Besides getting rich) how has the writing life changed you as a person?

Now I’ve stopped laughing at the first bit of the question, I’ll admit this is an interesting one. The first thing that comes to mind is that it’s changed me as a reader. And I don’t think in a good way. Why? Well, I read a lot less these days (my TBR pile is a disgrace), and when I do read, I read differently.

Why don’t I read as much? It’s not because I’m afraid that I’ll suddenly begin to write like the author I’m reading, or that I’ll become enraged if I stumble across a plot device I imagine I’ve just invented for the first time EVER . . . no, it’s because – simply – I don’t have time. I know, I know, we all lead horrifically busy lives these days, so I really should explain what I mean. I’m supposed to be a “full time author”. What is that? Well, if you know, please tell me . . . because, as far as I can see it means I “work” all day at my desk doing stuff that’s related to, but not, writing . . . then I’m up until 2am doing whatever actual writing my feeble brain is capable of. My days and nights, indeed I would say my every waking hour, are full of words. If I try to stuff any more in there, in the shape of those put on the page by others, I suspect my head might explode.

Checking final proofs on the back deck

Reading was always a form of delightfully engaging entertainment, escapism, relaxation (even when pounding through a thriller) and – yes – even indulgence, for me. Since I was a child the worlds in books are those I’ve chosen to inhabit when I need my “own space”. Now? To relax, I watch TV and movies, where I know I can allow an entire tale to flow over me in an hour or two, without me having to clamber through grammar or constantly worry about pace (see below). The only time I read now – in anything like the way I used to – is on holiday. Then it’s two weeks of books, books, books! I love it. I even manage to get back to the way I used to read . . . almost.

I used to read in a way that allowed the book to flow through me and over me, enjoying the story as well as the storytelling. Now I cannot help myself but stop to consider the construction of sentences, paragraphs and chapters. I’m always niggling about pacing, and I find it increasingly difficult to “lose myself” in a book. It’s truly annoying. 

Apart from that, how has the writing life changed me? It’s allowed me a really good excuse to live life the way I prefer it – in solitude. It’s allowed me to have an absorbing focus when I finally get around to domestic chores (which I hate) or gardening (which I love) – plotting. It’s allowed me to become involved with a community of like-minded people who are the only ones who know what it’s like to feel the bottomless void open beneath you when you know another revision is needed, and the stomach-churning terror when you have to press “Send” two minutes before your deadline knowing it’s not perfect, then telling yourself it never will be, because perfection isn’t possible. 

The writing life has changed me in too many ways to count, I suppose. In fact, it’s changed me in probably every way. Why? Because when you are a writer, being a writer becomes your entire life. It has done for me, in any case. It’s changed everything except the essence of me. I've always been a "200%" person, and that's never going to change. So my life is "200%" writing, and writing-associated effort. I just have to try to squeeze in some more reading along the way! You know what they say: "In for a penny, in for a pound." 

Cathy Ace is the Bony Blithe Award-winning author of The Cait Morgan Mysteries and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (#4, The Case of the Unsuitable Suitor will be released in hardcover in the UK in September 2017 and in the USA & Canada on January 1st 2018).  You can find out more about Cathy, her work and her characters at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter with news, updates and special offers: http://cathyace.com/