Benjamin Jowett was a Victorian professor of Greek, a theologian and a college reformer. Photos of him have a somewhat stern and whiskery air, but he is responsible for one of my favourite quotes ever:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have sought truth, and sometimes perhaps have found it. But have we had any fun?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I love that. As writers, we\u2019re not all that interested in truth, so perhaps we can rephrase: We have sought a decent story, and sometimes perhaps have told one. But have we had any fun?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That quote is in my head because it occurred to me this week that perhaps my best books are also the ones I most enjoyed writing. It\u2019s certainly true that the ones I most laboured over ended up proficient enough, but less joyous in the reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, I think it is true that a joyous writing experience leads to a better reading experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s nice to know in one way. Most writers could make more money in other jobs \u2013 or indeed, use those other jobs to fund their writing time \u2013 so it definitely matters that writing is fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life ain\u2019t always easy and writing isn\u2019t always pleasurable. What happens if you are finding the writing a slog? The joyous writing = good writing<\/em> rule is a comfort if you\u2019re having fun. But doesn\u2019t that also mean that painful writing = bad writing<\/em>? In which case, the rule seems to double your troubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think maybe it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I do strongly believe that you should write mostly for the fun of it. If you\u2019re not actually under contract to a publisher, then why write if you hate it? Of course, in any book, there\u2019ll be tough patches that you just have to push through, but that\u2019s the same as any challenging hobby. Overcoming those challenges is part of the joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But some books have the joy\/challenge balance wrong. The joy\u2019s never quite enough, the challenges rather too constant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what to do? As usual, I don\u2019t really know the answer, but my personal cocktail of solutions includes the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s it from me. This is now the second day of a school strike. We had seven kids in the house yesterday \u2013 my four plus three others \u2013 and five today. School returns tomorrow. School and quietness \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Til soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harry<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Benjamin Jowett was a Victorian professor of Greek, a theologian and a college reformer. Photos of him have a somewhat stern and whiskery air, but he is responsible for one of my favourite quotes ever: We have sought truth, and sometimes perhaps have found it. But have we had any fun? I love that. As<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harrys-friday-email"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
\n