{"id":180,"date":"2020-01-11T18:29:25","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T18:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.helenyeomans.com\/?page_id=180"},"modified":"2022-04-23T16:05:04","modified_gmt":"2022-04-23T16:05:04","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.helenyeomans.com\/faq\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Page Title Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color_gradient_direction=”115deg” background_image=”https:\/\/www.helenyeomans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/paper.jpg” custom_padding=”60px||0|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#383e59″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” max_width=”960px” custom_margin=”|||0px” custom_padding=”27px|40px||10%” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”2%” border_radii=”||6px|6px|” border_width_right=”30px” border_color_right=”#bdada0″ box_shadow_style=”preset3″ box_shadow_vertical=”35px” box_shadow_blur=”70px” box_shadow_spread=”-35px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”960px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding_tablet=”|||10%” custom_padding_last_edited=”off|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}” padding_tablet=”|||10%” padding_last_edited=”off|desktop” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Title” _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_font_size=”44px” header_line_height=”1.2em” header_4_font=”||||||||” background_layout=”dark” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” header_font_size_tablet=”40px” header_font_size_phone=”” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Events Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_image=”https:\/\/www.helenyeomans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/paper.jpg” custom_padding=”70px||70px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
From a \u201cwhat if\u201d (what if money grew on trees?), or an anecdote, or a person I know or have met. Sometimes a setting. Anything, I guess.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
About a year.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Couldn\u2019t interest any publisher or agent in taking me on. And I was a book production editor in Toronto, with Prentice-Hall, so I was familiar with the nuts and bolts of publishing: editing, design, typography, bindings and so on.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure. I went to some lengths to persuade myself that I could not write, and ignored advice from others. I had a good career as an editor for many years, until quite by accident, I discovered how much I loved writing. But I had some sort of idea of it from childhood, when I read Rupert Bear and thought it would be super neat to write such things. Years ago, while working in England, I took a writing course out of interest, but dropped it halfway through. I did pick up a copy of John Braine\u2019s Writing a Novel<\/em>. If I had to suggest one how-to book it would be this one, from the author of Room at the Top<\/em>. It\u2019s filled with sane, sensible advice.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n By writing. Continually, without pause. You have to keep on writing until gradually the stuff you\u2019re not aware of takes up more and more space over the stuff you are aware of. That unaware stuff comes out unplanned and naturally: that\u2019s your voice. Or at least, it\u2019s part of what is meant by that term. (I\u2019m sure there are better to ways to express it but that\u2019s the best I can do.)<\/p>\n When I first discovered I wanted to write, the ideas gushed forth. But I had editing to do (paying work!) so I put them on the back burner, and then writing began to affect the quality of my editing so I stopped completely for ten or fifteen years. That was bad. All those ideas and sentences and thoughts sat inside, growing stale and resentful. And when I began to write again, they sat, mulishly at the front of the queue wanting out but only coming out as stale and resentful instead of fresh and interesting. I became stilted and constipated in my writing until I got through all that stuff. It\u2019s a very very bad idea to stop writing once you start.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure I would have if I\u2019d started earlier, but now? I don\u2019t have time.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n I have a let\u2019s-not-start-this-book ritual, where I\u2019ll circle around the idea for as long as I can get away with, vacuuming or washing windows, until the scenes and words simply tumble all over themselves to get out.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Once I start a book, I aim for 2,000. That\u2019s harder to sustain as I get older, but I still try for it. It means you can get your first draft down in a month and a half or so. That\u2019s what keeps you going when you\u2019re thrashing around in the middle of it.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n When I first took it up, I could and did write anywhere, around anyone, on any occasion. Now I like to write in my office at my desk from nine until one or two pm. First drafts I generally write in pen on the couch downstairs.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n No. It\u2019s a left-brain, right-brain thing. These days, I just write.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”32px||32px||false|false” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”rgba(0,0,0,0.12)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”Abhaya Libre|700|||||||” header_3_font_size=”24px” header_3_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||0px|” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\nHow does a writer develop her \u201cvoice\u201d?<\/h3>\n
Do you ever get \u201cwriter\u2019s block\u201d?<\/h3>\n
Do you have any special rituals that help you begin writing?<\/h3>\n
Do you try to write a given number of words each day?<\/h3>\n
Some writers like to go to a busy coffee shop to write. Does that work for you?<\/h3>\n
Do you still offer editing services?<\/h3>\n
Where are the Christmas carols? You used to have a link to them.<\/h3>\n