I have a lot of balls in the air–three books coming out in the next year (one on May 1st), several hundred students doing one of my online writing courses, school visits, a TD Book Week tour starting on May 5th, a regular slot on CTV which I have to read lots of books for (which I love, don’t get me wrong!), and then I have ideas for new books swirling, and all the usual dealings with my four kids and the endless to-do list looking after their needs requires. Sometimes I have to stop and take a moment to find the writer that I claim to be. See, some days it seems to me that I spend more time emailing than writing. Actually, it feels to me that most days I’m working my way through the practical side of managing my life and not getting to the actual writing part.

I know that I’m not the only one who struggles to balance writing/life/work. But here in Saskatoon, I have a little escape plan. There is a lovely retreat centre called Queen’s House of Retreat that lets out rooms for the day. Occasionally, not often, I drop the kids off at school and head here for the entire day. I tidy my laptop home screen, answer emails, write, (nap!), read, and still get back in time to have supper. At home, I have a space where I can work, but my kids love to be in there with me, and there is always the temptation at home to tidy/cook/answer the phone/procrastinate/play with the kids etc. Here at Queen’s House with my little room and my (not-so-secret-anymore) escape plan, I take a few hours to recalibrate.

Surprisingly, when I do this, I actually get some time to do the one thing I skip in my day-to-day life. Here, I spend time with my ideas. I think about what I’m working on, or my future ideas, and I look out the window and dream. It’s important for me to actually spend time with my imagination, I remember. It’s easier, sure, to work my way through my to-do list, but it’s more effective, strangely, for me to step outside my life just a little, tiny bit, to refuel for all the projects I want to work on–I’ve had the best ideas here, and I can suddenly see my way through projects that I’ve been stuck on.

I’m lucky that Queen’s House is neither expensive nor restrictive–they are welcoming and I am glad to be here, just for one more hour before I get home to make supper for five kids (we have one extra staying the night) and then to the huge pile of stuff at the bottom of the stairs that I need to tidy tonight!

I loved my daughter’s little note that she never finished as the image for this post–I always wonder what she was going to add! Use it for a writing prompt, if you would like to. If you have time….

I’m looking forward to visiting each of these amazing blogs as Polly Diamond comes out into the world. I’ll be posting (I know, really, I’ll actually be writing blog posts, which I’m always meaning to do here on my own website and never quite managing! I’ll put it on the to-do list!) I’ll be sharing writing tips and ideas for fun things to do with creative children. Come along for the ride!

Like many of you, I read compulsively. I love books, paper books, ebooks, picture books, any books. I read a lot for pleasure. But I also read like a writer. This means that I notice things that other authors are doing so that I can improve my own writing.

Every book is full of possible lessons for writers. Each time I learn something new from someone else on the page, I feel my storytelling possibilities growing.

Here are five useful tips for reading like a writer yourself.

• Make notes and highlights. Some eReaders have seriously useful highlight and clipping capabilities. Use these when an author does something dazzling. Otherwise, good old pen and paper are just fine.
• Read certain paragraphs aloud. When you hear how your favourite author uses language it’ll help you transform your own writing.
• Notice technical skills on the page. If you don’t know how to punctuate speech, or if you struggle with how to use flashbacks, or if you wonder about sentence length or how to end chapters, take novels you adore and see how those authors managed these aspects of their writing. To paraphrase Stephen King, add to your writer toolbox. Think of each skill you pick up as another tool in your writing toolbox and notice tools that you’re missing. For example, it took me years to try writing in third person. Every time I see another writer doing it well, I make notes and appreciate their skill. Another technical aspect I note is good dialogue – when I see an author using great dialogue, believe me, I make notes.
• Pay attention to writing that doesn’t work for you. It sounds contrary, but actually it’s really helpful for you to notice what type of writing fails and why. What is the author doing that makes the story clunky or makes the dialogue flat? You can learn lots from what is unsuccessful. Also, with writing that doesn’t work for you but that everybody else just LOVES, try to figure out why. Make notes, read it aloud, think about how each sentence is formed and what the author is trying to achieve.
• Finally, and maybe this should have been first: read widely. Read lots of things you never normally read – broaden out to sci-fi, romance, poetry, plays, shampoo bottles, everything. Notice how every author uses words, not just authors you go back to time and again. In this way, you’ll broaden your own writing capabilities.

Reading like a writer helps me appreciate the written word – but I also remind myself to read for pleasure too. If I’m getting too writerly and forgetting the fun, I take a breath, turn the page of another book, and dive in. Now, where did I put my book?

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