P.J. Murphy's Writer Site

As I write this blog post, I’m procrastinating. I cannot deny it. These very words are evidence against me.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a work break coming up this summer, which I was planning to use to concentrate on my writing. Well, it has finally arrived!

In May, I started a weekly online course on creative writing with London City University. The beauty of this course is that you all feed back on each other’s work, so it’s kind of like a mini-critique group. So, far, I’ve submitted a 5,000-word section of my new novel (the sequel to “Troubleshot”), which received a favourable response – although we are all quite positive about each other’s work – and some useful pointers.

You do have to be prepared to spend time returning the favour, though. The great thing is that you get to read stuff in a variety of genres, both short stories and extracts of novels, and some of the stuff is really good. I’m hoping that I can maintain connections after the course finishes.

I’m not including any photos of this course here because they would just be pictures of my computer, which I can’t think you would find riveting – but my other course was very photogenic.

I’m just finishing a residential retreat at The Hurst, which is a writing house in Shropshire. It’s nestled between villages named on a variation of Clun. There’s Clun itself, Clunton, Clunbury, Clungunford, Clunilingus (okay, I may have made that last one up). The house has some history, being the former residence of playwright John Osborne. You can read more about him, the house and the courses they run here.

The tutors have been great, and it’s been a really good place to connect with other writers at various stages of their journey. I’ve picked up plenty of great tips and pointers.

And here are a bunch of photos of the place. It’s truly a beautiful part of the world (when the sun is shining, anyway), and there are 26 acres of grounds, combining gardens and woodlands, which you are free to wonder while searching your muse.

My time spent writing and wandering has been interspersed with workshops on various aspects of writing and finalising your novel. Contrary to popular belief about what happens at these retreats, no sex was had (at least, not to my knowledge), but we did talk about sex scenes in books. There aren’t any explicit ones in my next book (sorry), but I’m considering them for the one after that (you have been warned!).

As for the writing, I’ve made quite a bit of progress this week, and have now completed about two thirds of the sequel to “Troubleshot”, which I’m currently calling “Six Steps to Save a Soul” (better title forthcoming, I hope). I had hoped to have finished the first draft by now, but this year’s been tough in terms of getting things down. Still, I’m getting there.

The aim for the rest of summer is to GET IT DONE. Then, I’ll be taking a pause to work on “Beach of Spies”, before going back to it with a fresh pair of eyes for the second draft of “Six Steps…”. I’ll keep you updated on how I’m doing, but for now, back to the writing – no more procrastination.

I wonder how I should spend my Audible credit this month…