On Being A Writer...

...and a particular delight.

Sit Still Timmy! Tim MacWilliam’s honest and unexpurgated life story, up for an award and deservedly so. (Amazon)

I love my work.

You all know that by now. To write, to do something I love and have a passion for as my ‘job’, my profession and title, my way of earning a living.

The thought delights me everyday. Well most of them anyway. Especially when I think of some of the awful jobs and the (mostly) instantly unlikeable people I came across when I thought I was in the midst of a ‘career’.

Yes, hello telecommunications giant in Bracknell, I’m talking about you here.

I often meet people, many of them full of the vim and vigour of youth, untethered dreams in their hearts and minds and stars in their eyes.

Love to see it, to feel their energy.

And to attempt to answer the question they all have.

“I’d love to be a writer. How do I become one?”

My first response is always to say how increasingly difficult and challenging a career path it is.

I then tell them the most important thing they can do is WRITE.

Then I tell them not to let anyone stand in the way of their dreams. Whatever they might be.

Sit Still Timmy. Rear cover. Life really is a beach. Our moods ebb and flow, just like the tides… (Amazon)

One thing you have to be when you write for a living, is flexible. Adaptable. Up for anything.

I can’t sit at my desk all day writing my novel. Because the bills would never get paid.

It’s much better to balance what you do, as a writer, for love, with the sort of work that your clients, whether they be individuals or businesses, ask you to do.

To those questions, I always say “Yes, I can do that”. Even if, on some occasions, I then put the phone down and think, “…help, however am I going to do this?”

It was a phone call of that nature that got me and Tim MacWilliam talking.

He was writing his life story. One that has been dominated by the condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

ADHD.

You may be familiar with it. Look it up if you’re not.

Tim was, as Tim is, someone who gets to the point.

“Ed, I’m writing my life story. It’s written, I have a manuscript. But I’d like someone to read through it, edit bits and pieces if necessary. offer me advice and feedback. And just be there on then end of a phone for me as I get this finished and ready for publication…

….are you interested?”

I was.

And I enjoyed every second of the work that followed.

A delighted Tim MacWilliam with his book (Tim MacWilliam)

I proceeded to read, chapter by chapter, page by page, paragraph by paragraph, Tim’s draft manuscript.

I’d offer advice, a touch of rewriting here and there (Tim initially pointed out that he felt I wasn’t making parts of the narrative ‘sound’ like him, an excellent and very valid point-whether I am ghost-writing a biography for a client or, as in this case, reading through their work and editing as I go, it is crucial that it remains their voice on the page and not mine) as well as general help and support throughout the whole process.

We enjoyed some wonderful conversations and would e mail each other late into the night. Tim’s passion for his work and the book was several levels above infectious and I succumbed quickly, becoming completely absorbed in his story, his raw honesty and his wonderfully self effacing sense of humour.

I also learnt a lot, and I mean, a lot, about ADHD.

And remain awe struck at how he has faced down numerous challenges and dealt with them in his own very unique way.

Eventually, my role in the proceedings came to an end.

Tim looked back on the work we did together only today in a lovely and very open e-mail which I will read whenever I doubt the work that I do. Referring to that time, he wrote…

“…as things progressed the chapters were left as you described it; ‘Ed Light’ sometimes without any changes at all other than the occasional bit of grammar which concerned me for a time but I needn’t have been worried as I can remember one chapter you describing as ‘seriously good stuff’ and I appreciated how genuine you are with the feedback and it gave me the belief that I could write and you understood how I wanted the book to read and it helped that we were on the same page with this.

I imagine every client is different and offers different challenges for you”.

Those final twelve words describe my life and work perfectly, thanks Tim! But know this, few have been as enjoyable to work with as you and I hope we can work together again someday.

I learnt this week that Sit Still Timmy is on the shortlist for the 2023 East Anglian Book Awards.

I’m still smiling about that. And I hope Tim wins.

Writing is, make no mistake about it, one of the hardest and most demanding of all the creative professions.

Competition is fierce and the people who write the cheques can be choosy. Very choosy.

The so-called ‘threat’ of AI doesn’t bother me. Not in my work. No computer has a heart and soul. For that reason, AI will never replace writers.

And even in a thousand years time, AI wouldn’t have been able to write Sit Still Timmy.

Which is not only a tribute to the man who wrote it but a testimony to the power of the human spirit.

And how, despite all, it will endure and conquer all.

____________________________

Sit Still Timmy by Tim MacWilliam is available at Amazon and at select bookshops in Norwich, including Waterstones.

You can find out more by visiting www.timmacwilliam.com