Matt Valentine's Blog for Writers and Readers

Hey You! Welcome...

Oh what to do? Being a writer, author, poet, artist and general literary genius can be a lonely place can't it? The process of creating your work is in itself an isolating experience - and it has to be in order to give ourselves the time, space and openness to produce such depth and vision. But this carries with it many sacrifices.

For me, one of these sacrifices is friendship. Although I now have a very special group of friends (small but perfectly formed) I still find myself locking the door, closing the blinds, unplugging the telephone and wallowing in, er, creative self-pity! Necessary? Actually yes I think it is. Just as long as my wallow doesn't go on for more than a week I think this is quite vital in connectig with the darkness that so very often, almost magically, produces great insight into whatever piece I am working on. Writing, for me, is very much like therapy - it's a journey. And thus that journey has to unfold in Divine timing and it must must must be trusted that it, whatever you believe it to be, will indeed reveal to you the right time to put it on paper, to edit, to 'cook' and to publish.

A friend reminded me the other week that there is no such thing as 'writer's block.' Sound weird? Not really because when we appear to be stuck and doing nothing the glorious sub-concious is working very very hard on our behalf processing what we have already written and also coming up with genius ideas for the next chapter or poem. Trust.

Also, it is very helpful to remember that there is a huge difference between a project being fiinished and it being ready for publicaton. That is what I mean by the piece 'cooking.' You will often find that when you leave something to cook and on the back-burner for a while; new and exciting ideas flourish within the dark realms of your mind and they will not present themselves for liberation onto your eagerly awaiting pages until they are good and bloody well ready! And when they finally do - you will see that the time is indeed right.

Then go for it!

Enjoy this website for writers, poets, authors, artists and, of course, you beautiful receptive people who buy, share and enjoy our work - the reading public. BIG Hug!! Oh yes and please buy my book.... it's fab! There will be paperback versions soon and also a CD for the below title. Later on in the year my autobiography will also be available.... yeah yeah I know what you're thinking.... take a look at About Matt Valentine and it may give you a clue..... ;-)