I've moved! And I'd be honoured if you'd visit my new place:

illustratedguidetolife.com

What happened? 

The rabbit hutch of my creative process is fouled by dirty life habits. And I'm cleaning it up. 

If you're a follower of this blog, you'll probably know my theatre shows and  novel-writing. Epic challenges in short timeframes, usually with exciting outcomes. But every time I did a creative project, I ended up burnt out. I love deadlines, and worked with a kind of brutal, obsessive energy and determination. I got things done, and fast - but, as my wise friend and director Sara Kewly Hyde advised: "Controversially, Laura, getting things done is not always the most important thing". 

It sure isn't. Life is more important. You know, taking it in. Savouring it. Being grateful for its pleasures. Wiggling your toes in the sunshine. Playing with your family (I now have a daughter, and she's one big reason why my life has, and must, change). Breathing. Loving your loved ones until they are in no doubt. 

Coffee, diet coke, booze, overeating, overcommitting, disengaging... Psschht, you say. Everyone does that, don't they? Well, these might seem like minor vices, but they wreck the pleasure in creativity. They add up to misery. They enslave me. Suddenly, I'm racing ahead, never enjoying what I'm doing or what I've got, just desperate to get through it to the next thing. My life is ruled by an Urge to have More and More of everything. And the ensuing tiredness, paranoia, illness, depression, self-disgust, hopelessness and conflict is no small consequence. And for my loved ones, it's as though I abscond, and then reappear at the door one stormy night, drenched and shivering. (Does this sound familiar to anyone? Please, do get in touch or leave a comment below - I'd love to discover I'm not alone in this). 

The RSPCA must be called (just to return, randomly, to the rabbit hutch metaphor). By the end of an artistic process, I've masochistically turned the cage into a kind of leporine Tracey Emin installation. 

Each time I have to stop, and rebuild myself. My creativity lives on - there must be another way of working I can learn. I don't want to stop and get a day job. But I'm done with working this way. 

Fortunately, I can turn the same enthusiasm and determination that I used in theatre on myself (in the last year, I've already transformed my life into an unrecogniseable incarnation), and I'm determined to keep learning how to live better. Both in general, and in a creative life which has a steady pace, and is sustainable in the long term. 

So don't say goodbye, oh no. Not even auf wiedersehen. Come over to theillustratedguidetolife.com and see me take on this huge and worthy challenge. You'll find a candid account there of my strategies and attempts to change my ways. And you'll find support for anything you're trying to clean up about your act too. Do it for me. Do it for yourself. Do it for the rabbits. 

What's on illustratedguidetolife.com?

• Posts once a week initially - on Tuesdays – right from the coal face of where I'm at. The questions that come up and the solutions that I've found through my diligent research and self-experimentation that actually work
• I'll be there until I can work in a sustained way on a creative project for three solid months without crashing. Yes, I'm committed to seeing this process through
• I'll be there longer if you're changing things and need my support too! So if you'd like to make your creative life healthier too, (or just give up your latte habit) then pitch in and we'll egg each other on
• Oh, and did I mention the drawings? I illustrate everything, with sketches. Why? Because it makes me and you happy

Yours, 
Laura Eades

100 hours of novel-editing in one month in Berlin

If you haven't heard from me for a while, I've been doing a novel-editing marathon! 

The wins: 

• I've been spending time in some lovely places, and really enjoyed myself! Like this cafe in Hufelandstrasse, Prenzlauer Berg. Also, a treehouse in a children's playground, and my writing desk at home (pic below).
• I worked my way through 4 chapters (about a quarter of the novel) - so I now I know I have to allow 300 more hours!
• I kept running, and ran 10K
• I've lost a stone. Only minor bad behaviour with a bag of nuts and a box of chocolates in the final days

The hurdles:

• We haven't had any internet connection at home, or phone line, and so I've become hopelessly disconnected from everyone - apologies
• I've forgotten all the German I learnt before this month started
• Too many espresso macchiatos

Now I know a few more things about the creative process, and can plan the next one better! (Two weeks, then a healthy week, then two more - that's as long as I can last before entering caffeine hyperspace)

National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo): How many edits do you need?

To everyone still editing for NaNoEdMo - good continuance!

My favourite days were with the terrace doors open, a blanket on my knees, gloves on my hands, watching the snow drift down. Snow and editing go well together. After two months of diligence, I ran out of steam - but I hit my targets. But now I can see I have more to do than I even realised.  

You see, the size of the task multiplies. Unseen loose ends. Writing more from scratch than expected. Though I revisited that raw NaNoWriMo spirit and had a couple of highs as things fell into place. But how many edits will I need? Julia Crouch cites about five. 

Going back to it over and over, like stripping away layers of paint. 

Maybe it's good to decide what the rewrite or edit is for. 

• I think this was the Plot Edit, since you can't finesse the style when the characters' motivations are weak and the narrative doesn't make sense
• Then we might have a Character Edit where we look at motivations and emotions
• Then we might look at Style and cutting the padding and tweaking the poetry.. 

Or is it possible, for some supereditors, to do it all in one writethrough? 

I discovered some of my writing habits. 

1) I'm a denier about plot inconsistency, basically because I'm impatient to get on

2) I combine a lot of different themes. I don't know if there are too many, or if maybe a novel can support that. Somehow I'm drawn to the intricacy of it - but sometimes I read something really focused and elegant and think this intricacy masks indecision

3) I can get addicted to anything - Anything! Even decaffeinated coffee

NaNoEdMo: News from halfway through an editing process

I want to say how it is right now. Just over halfway through the editing process. Just under halfway through my material. A week into NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month). Sweating, under pressure. It was sunny, now it's cloudy again.  

Character doubts

My main character suddenly looks really thin and I don't know her. I read this super inspiring thing - Occupy Steve - on the Office of Letters and Light Blog. Haven't got a hope in hell of occupying my character unless I do some development - don't really have the time to get too waylaid. 

Concept doubts

My book idea suddenly looks totally unsellable. Was I even thinking of whether it would sell? As usual, no. I don't approach ideas like that. I wish I did. I just wrote the only idea I had. I wrote a pitch for Pitchapalooza. That took about 23 hours as well! I'm not sure if it was worth it. In theory, it should help sharpen your plot ideas. I think it did ... It was sooo difficult. I couldn't work out if my idea didn't sound jazzy enough when I wrote it down, or was it just too damn complex for a 250 word pitch? Anyway, it's done now. Maybe I'll be able to pitch it better in a year's time when it's done! 

Other things in the how'm I doing section:

Keeping in touch with friends

Improving - I went into my own island there for about a month. Now I've had some health problems that have jolted me out of it, thankfully. 

Destructive writing habits

I'm alcohol-free!

Caffeine-free!

I'm working on my Toast Problem. If anyone's a specialist in this area, please refer me to them. 

Total hours spent editing since start of Feb: 80 hours

Words edited: 27,000 + pitch written + rereading twice + character work

Head Space animation with gorgeous soundtrack

March 1:  Start of NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) officially. 

To celebrate relaxed beginnings, and to feel like I've actually FINISHED something even when the editing work is very much ongoing, here's an animation I made last year, my talented radio producing friend Sarah Cuddon and talented musicians Cabinet of Living Cinema did the soundtrack for. 

HeadSpaceAnimation from Laura Eades on Vimeo.

The first wave of editing: the challenge

Now I've messed around a bit with a magenta pen and some index cards, I have the novel split into 3 parts, each around 35,000 words. It feels good this way, a bit simpler

The challenge 
Edit Part 1 into a state that I can at least share with friends/allow someone to read. Part 1 is currently in 11 chapters, and I've done the first one. 



The deadline
31 March 2013

Target hours
3 hours' editing/writing per day (there are some big gaps), 15 hours per week in Feb, and then during March 50 hours in total - I can log this as NaNoEdMo. By the end of March, starting on 11 Feb, this makes 95 hours. 

The price of failure
If I do 6 chapters or less 
A £75 donation to Manchester United (this is in nobody's interest. Not mine, my husband's, nobody)
Plus no lie-ins at weekends for 2 months
If I do 8 chapters or less
Penalty fare as above, plus no lie-ins for 1 month
If I do 10 chapters or less
Penalty fare

Things I can do to help me succeed: 

• Cooking dinners in advance. If dinner is ready, I can sneak 45 minutes just after the little one's bedtime. 
• Get up early (and therefore, I'll be in bed early too). Then I can usually sneak in an hour before the little one awakens. A breakfast tray ready the night before helps with that one. 
• Print out as I go along. Editing means a lot of rereading, where you are up to. So printing helps, as it makes this rereading quicker. 
• Plan a couple of daytime/weekend sessions to boost the hours and gather momentum

I'm Laura Eades. Drawing, writing, and sometimes speaking words out loud are my passions. I began my company, The Honourable Society of Faster Craftswomen, to collaborate with brilliant artists to make theatre, audio, and other artworks.

The 'society' is me. It's  also all of the collaborators I'm lucky enough to stay up late with. And it's you, when you are our audience, or because you are reading this now.

Thanks for joining us. Scream if you wanna go faster!