Virginia Betts is a tutor, writer poet and actor from Suffolk. An eternal optimist and mid-life-creative advocate, she’d like to point out that it’s never too late to live the dream. And with this month’s blog, some ink to inspire and ignite your creative fire.
Phew! We can hardly call June a ‘scorcher’, but as the month careers to a close and the temperature finally begins to rise to a level we might equate with Summer, I look back at the June so far and find that it has been a more productive month than I thought.
As a neurodivergent artist and self-employed business owner, I have to be super-organised with my time or the days slip away from me. I’m guessing that many of us busy people, especially those who are self-employed, have problems with procrastination and time management. It’s all too tempting to make that third cup of coffee or put off work you can’t face by telling yourself you have to do the household chores. Sometimes I really would rather delay a bit of writer’s block by mopping the floor or doing the laundry than face the blank screen. Add to the mix a neurodivergent brain and it can be a recipe for a colossal waste of time. So, when ‘one of those days’ strikes me, how do I get over it?
Well, firstly it is OK to ‘waste’ a bit of time. Nobody can be productive 100% of the time. Some people like a strict routine, and this works for me to a certain extent – the earlier I rise, the more I get done. It’s about knowing your productive time. For me early in the morning or between 2 and 4 are my best times. After that I work tutoring from 4.30 – 7.30 and then it’s dinner and family time. If I get up late, I usually fail to get the chores done, or write anything and I can’t finish any tasks. One way I personally get over a sticking point or energy slump is to make a list of things to do the night before, switch my phone to ‘do not disturb’, go to the gym or walk first thing then begin the tasks, ticking them off as I go. I don’t know about you, but I have to avoid doom scrolling first thing, and turn off the television immediately after breakfast, or it’s midday before I know it. I make sure I leave the house at least once a day for any reason at all to re-energise and get some air.
I have learned to give myself a break. Even though I work at home, I take a lunch break; I break away from screens and watch a little telly, or read someone else’s book rather than try to write if I’m not in the mood. Sometimes you just have to write the day off and that’s ok – maybe allocate a day to do things like household chores and stay away from emails, phones, or any other work demands or worries, or simply a day given over to another thing you find relaxing. It is really healthy to have a break from social media – I enjoy posting and catching up, but my anxiety levels definitely go down when I switch off. It’s good to remember that if you are out of the house at work all day, you still have time off; if your place of work is also your home it can be difficult to be kind to yourself and take a break from a busy schedule, but it is essential for your well-being. At the end of the day, even one that feels unproductive, I try to look at all of the things I have achieved and it’s easy to see that no time is ever really wasted.
Cover design by artist Lyn Stuart for the forthcoming poetry collection, ‘That Little Voice’ by Virginia Betts
Virginia Betts is a tutor, writer poet and actor from Suffolk. An eternal optimist and mid-life-creative advocate, she’d like to point out that it’s never too late to live the dream. And with this month’s blog, some ink to inspire and ignite your creative fire.
Phew! We can hardly call June a ‘scorcher’, but as the month careers to a close and the temperature finally begins to rise to a level we might equate with Summer, I look back at the June so far and find that it has been a more productive month than I thought.
As a neurodivergent artist and self-employed business owner, I have to be super-organised with my time or the days slip away from me. I’m guessing that many of us busy people, especially those who are self-employed, have problems with procrastination and time management. It’s all too tempting to make that third cup of coffee or put off work you can’t face by telling yourself you have to do the household chores. Sometimes I really would rather delay a bit of writer’s block by mopping the floor or doing the laundry than face the blank screen. Add to the mix a neurodivergent brain and it can be a recipe for a colossal waste of time. So, when ‘one of those days’ strikes me, how do I get over it?
Well, firstly it is OK to ‘waste’ a bit of time. Nobody can be productive 100% of the time. Some people like a strict routine, and this works for me to a certain extent – the earlier I rise, the more I get done. It’s about knowing your productive time. For me early in the morning or between 2 and 4 are my best times. After that I work tutoring from 4.30 – 7.30 and then it’s dinner and family time. If I get up late, I usually fail to get the chores done, or write anything and I can’t finish any tasks. One way I personally get over a sticking point or energy slump is to make a list of things to do the night before, switch my phone to ‘do not disturb’, go to the gym or walk first thing then begin the tasks, ticking them off as I go. I don’t know about you, but I have to avoid doom scrolling first thing, and turn off the television immediately after breakfast, or it’s midday before I know it. I make sure I leave the house at least once a day for any reason at all to re-energise and get some air.
I have learned to give myself a break. Even though I work at home, I take a lunch break; I break away from screens and watch a little telly, or read someone else’s book rather than try to write if I’m not in the mood. Sometimes you just have to write the day off and that’s ok – maybe allocate a day to do things like household chores and stay away from emails, phones, or any other work demands or worries, or simply a day given over to another thing you find relaxing. It is really healthy to have a break from social media – I enjoy posting and catching up, but my anxiety levels definitely go down when I switch off. It’s good to remember that if you are out of the house at work all day, you still have time off; if your place of work is also your home it can be difficult to be kind to yourself and take a break from a busy schedule, but it is essential for your well-being. At the end of the day, even one that feels unproductive, I try to look at all of the things I have achieved and it’s easy to see that no time is ever really wasted.
In the first half of the month, I enjoyed some adventures with my American ‘family’. My son’s girlfriend is from a small town called Pitman in New Jersey, near Philadelphia. This month, she was here with her parents, who were visiting England for the first time in 23 years. The parents began their UK adventure in the North and ended their stay with us. We all had some marvellous fun in the local area, which reminded me that we have some really interesting places on our doorstep and allowed me to see them all with fresh eyes. Some of our highlights were: afternoon tea at Hintlesham Hall Golf Club, which is a really reasonable price in a classy setting; the food is of excellent quality. We also visited Lavenham which is a gem of a village featuring beautiful old architecture, shops, tea rooms, antique stores and, of course, the Guildhall. What an English historical treat for American visitors! Another highlight was a visit to Sutton Hoo, home of the ancient burial mounds, and treasure. We also visited Edith Pretty’s house. Edith Pretty hired Basil Brown to dig up the ‘mounds’ on her land because of her ‘Feeling’ there might be something buried there. How right she was! Brown discovered an Anglo-Saxon burial site, including a large ship and treasure. It is now the subject of an interesting film, ‘The Dig’. I’m a little disappointed that much of the original treasure, including the famous helmet worn by King Raedwald is now in the British Museum, although I do concede it is probably safer there, and available to a wider audience. I have seen the original helmet, and advised my visitors to look it up when their travels took them to London the following week. We did lots of other things I would usually take for granted, like a trip to Felixstowe in the evening, an introduction to fish and chips and playing games. We culminated the week with a trip to The Brook Inn, a fabulous pub-restaurant at Copdock which serves a nearly all gluten-free home-cooked style menu. I hope they come back soon!
The replica of Raedwald’s Battle Helmet from Sutton Hoo
June also yields some exciting events. On 28th June I’ll be appearing with Sophia Michaels and Antony Johae at the Two Sisters Arts Centre in Take Three Poets, a special performance where we’ll be sharing our poetry and our writing wisdom. The following day, as part of the Felixstowe Book Festival, I’ll have a table at the ‘author’ day, which includes open mic sessions if you want to perform your own work. It looks set to be a great weekend. It’s free entry too, and you’ll also get the opportunity to chat to local authors, including poets from the night before, and meet members of the Suffolk Poetry Society. My story and poetry collections will be available to buy, signed, and you will also be able to get other goodies and information about my soon-to-be published second collection, That Little Voice (Anxiety Press). That Little Voice, is again an eclectic mix. It feels like a journey through my year when I now read it back, touching on themes of time again, but also loss and introspection. It's a very melancholy collection in places, where I can almost see I must have felt somehow ‘diminished’ in some way, but it’s also balanced and ends on a theme of hope. There are some personal tributes to people lost in 2023, as well as some darkly humorous satirical observations of human life. As ever, my poems mean something to me, but they always touch the reader in their own unique way, so make of them what you will, and I hope people enjoy reading and interpreting them.
June also saw me performing poetry at the Theatre Royal in Norwich, and a surprise call for me to play one of the parts in a showcase script-in-hand performance at the same venue. There were some excellent scripts on show, and I met some really talented professionals in the industry. I feel so honoured to be part of the Writer’s Guild. I also watched a cool production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, performed by The Gallery Players at the Gallery Studio. Thank heavens for this brilliant local venue showing quality productions. I saw a production of ‘Piaf’ there in Winter and it was quite stunning! (with Emily Bennet in the titular role) A few friends were in it – and I couldn’t miss a chance to see a good Bottom (thank you Phil Corey!)
It's time now, though, to put a spotlight on other local writers.
First up for a mini-interview is Julie Missen (JD Missen):
Tell us a bit about your latest book
"I’ve just published my third novel, The Evil Within Us All, which is the second book of my detective series. The books are based in Suffolk and use a lot of real locations, road names etc. but with a lot of artistic licence. I’m inspired by people’s life stories, documentaries, history and the world around us and am particularly interested in human behaviour – what people do and why they do it."
Have you always been a ‘writer’?
"I started writing poetry and wrote my first book when I was about 14."
What are you currently working on/planning next?
"I’m now writing the third book of my detective series and have another two books planned. I’m also working on a stand-alone novel and am planning to publish another poetry book when I can find the time!"
Do you have another job apart from writing?
"At the moment I’m working as a full-time writer as I wanted to take some time out to learn how to publish and market my books but I will find another job soon and carry on writing in my free time."
What do you like to read?
"I read crime fiction, historical fiction, and non-fiction, especially local history."
And this month we have TWO local writers in the spotlight! Please meet Russell Webb, whose book, Love Beyond Love, you might already be familiar with.
So, Russell, why did you write your book?
"I never planned to become a published author; it was never on my radar. I retired from the London Fire Brigade two years ago after 30 years working as a firefighter. I lost my wife to breast cancer in September 2018. Two months later, I needed to get away to try to make sense of it all. So, there I was sitting alone on a beach in Turkey on what would have been my wife’s 51st birthday. As you would expect, I was emotionally drained, lost and scared. I was frightened that I would forget the special times that we had. So, I started to write a few things down in a notebook. Slowly, over the course of two years, my words became sentences, then paragraphs, then chapters, and it evolved into a book called Love Beyond Love. It was published in November 2022. I found that writing my story really helped with my grieving process. I have received many lovely comments and reviews, and my words are helping others to reach out. Some have even put pen to paper as I did."
What are you working on currently?
"I’m in the process of writing a fiction book based around the Fire Service. Since living in Suffolk, and having my book published, I now co-ordinate two writing groups and attend many book signing events, also giving talks on my 30 years working in the Fire Brigade in the UK and the transition from firefighter to author."
What do you like to read?
"I like to read historical books, particularly books about the SAS and World War 2."
Suffolk most certainly has talent! I have local writers and creators lining up to be next for a chat. Maybe it could be you?
Books to read this month:
As you know, I run the David Lloyd Book Club, which now has quite a few members. This month we set ourselves a challenge to choose from three books:
Girl A by Abigail Dean
It is the story of Lex Gracie, a young woman whose childhood was wrecked by abusive parents. Her mother dies in prison, and Lex is bequeathed the house where she and her siblings grew up. I can’t comment on it as I haven’t read it yet, but it is next on the list.
Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang
This book was excellent! I could not put it down. It is the story of a writer who steals the identity of her more successful friend when she dies in a bizarre and futile accident. It raised questions about fame and success, race, identity, jealousy and I really enjoyed the spotlight on the writing industry. A powerful and ironic tale in so many ways.
Unusually, I had time to read two books. I haven’t quite finished this one, but I also love it. I tend to read them whilst on the treadmill at the gym – makes exercise a bit more entertaining! This is about a killer, Ansel Packer, but through him it is really the stories of his victims that are told. His backstory and all of the backstories are intriguing. It begins in ‘second person’ narration (you) which I initially found difficult, but don’t let that put you off, as it soon shifts to a different perspective. This is a good one!
But I end this by returning to my earlier thoughts about procrastination and ‘brain fog’. I’m writing this at midnight. After a day of being stuck in a non-productive rut, I went on the treadmill at 9 pm returning refreshed to finish a chapter of my novel and complete this article. So perhaps that’s my final piece of advice: when the creative mood strikes, just run with it. And now it’s definitely time for bed.
Goodnight, everyone. Have a happy month. I’ll see you in July!
Love,
Virginia.
Virginia has written numerous articles and fiction, written for stage and radio, and published two books, The Camera Obscure and Tourist to the Sun. Her third and fourth books are coming soon.
Feel free to contact Virginia if you have a great creative suggestion, venue or activity!
by Danya Kukafka
Unusually, I had time to read two books. I haven’t quite finished this one, but I also love it. I tend to read them whilst on the treadmill at the gym – makes exercise a bit more entertaining! This is about a killer, Ansel Packer, but through him it is really the stories of his victims that are told. His backstory and all of the backstories are intriguing. It begins in ‘second person’ narration (you) which I initially found difficult, but don’t let that put you off, as it soon shifts to a different perspective. This is a good one!
But I end this by returning to my earlier thoughts about procrastination and ‘brain fog’. I’m writing this at midnight. After a day of being stuck in a non-productive rut, I went on the treadmill at 9 pm returning refreshed to finish a chapter of my novel and complete this article. So perhaps that’s my final piece of advice: when the creative mood strikes, just run with it. And now it’s definitely time for bed.
Goodnight, everyone. Have a happy month. I’ll see you in July!
Love,
Virginia.
Virginia has written numerous articles and fiction, written for stage and radio, and published two books, The Camera Obscure and Tourist to the Sun. Her third and fourth books are coming soon.
Feel free to contact Virginia if you have a great creative suggestion, venue or activity!
Cover design by artist Lyn Stuart for the forthcoming poetry collection, ‘That Little Voice’ by Virginia Betts