Perhaps this column should be named My Writing Night rather than My Writing Day, as many writers seem more inclined towards pen or computer and the teasing of words as the spirit of night takes over. That is certainly the case with me. I know there are also writers who put in their writing day from before dawn to early morning, particularly writers who hold formal jobs. But I am definitely not one of those people. In fact, I find it difficult to get out of bed any morning, and I can hardly remember an occasion when I rooted myself out of bed specifically to write. On the other hand, I frequently work through the night with the company only of the fairies and the sweet mysterious silence of the night.
I am a slow writer. One or two thousand words per day . . . it depends. That is why I am inclined to daydream and stray from the work in hand. But maybe that is not altogether a bad thing as I feel dreams are closely related to the imagination and many of my short stories are rooted in the imaginative world.
I usually rotate between three or four works at the same time. At present, for example, I am working on a collection of short stories, An Fear nach nDeanann Gaire (The Man Who Doesnt Laugh), on a poetry collection and on a short piece of writing which fits neither the description of short story or novel. Anchored also at the back of my mind is the notion that I would like to write a play, although I have no experience in this literary form apart from my translation to Irish of Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane. But I always enjoy trying new things. Even if a writer doesn't succeed, I suppose it helps him to grow. Sometimes one has to attempt to write a thing in order to understand that one cannot. That's no harm.
I do a lot of rewriting, and endeavour not to publish any work until it has been written for at least one year. In fact, I have made this a personal rule, with the result that I frequently find myself working simultaneously on up to four works before they end up between two covers. With the to-ing and fro-ing between works it often happens that I am beginning to tire of a piece of writing as it is ready to be published and have become more preoccupied and excited with the next piece of writing in hand. I rarely read my own published works, especially directly following their publication. I would rather not find myself identifying flaws and rewriting mentally after it was too late to make changes.
Not surprisingly, the first draft of any work is the most uncertain, the most challenging and the most complicated. It is the draft in which I am feeling and finding my way, frequently with very unclear signposts. But as with any journey, anything can happen. I get lost sometimes, but that is not necessarily a bad thing since it is possible for a person to stray into a good place. I sometimes spend up to eight hours per day writing. I might start early in the morning; it might be ten o'clock at night. I generally spend the start of the day looking back on what I wrote the previous day; more times I am afraid to do that for fear I might not like what I would read.
After writing the first draft or two I sometimes abandon a piece of writing for six months or a year before tackling it again. In rewriting there is much tidying up to do and many changes are necessary. I like to meditate deeply on each chapter, on each paragraph, sometimes even on each word. At this stage of the process I usually work for about two hours at a time and like to take frequent breaks - that is, if a writer ever takes breaks from his art, since he seems to bring with him his material and his work wherever he goes and into whatever realm he enters. Also, since writing cannot be hurried or forced, a writer is always conscious of the need to strike while the iron is hot!
Micheal O Conghaile is the Irish Language Writer in Residence at Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster Coleraine. His award-winning first novel, Sna Fir, was recently published by Clo IarChonnachta. He will be reading at An Culturlann in Belfast on Saturday, May 20th at 2 p.m.