Hello Rad People

:: The Write Stuff: Kate Forster

July 8, 2013

 

I met Kate Forster a couple of years ago through worky stuff. Me and Kate and her fella David had coffee and chatter somewhere on Chapel Street and they seemed terribly nice. This is because they are terribly nice.

We’ve kept in touch via Facebook and Kate and I were both panellists at the recent Voices of 2013 event in Melbourne, too. We are practically twins, non?

At that event, we all talked a lot about writing. It was GREAT. There were around 100 bloggers in attendance and everyone was SUPER INTERESTED in the writerly life and how it works for each of us. This made me think. And what I thunk was: ‘Why not do a series on writers and their habits, Pip?!’ So here is the first in that (possibly sporadic but terribly interesting) series.

Here is Lady-Fave Kate Forster. (PS – here is an article I found about Kate when I was researching.)

 

Things I need to be able to have a good writing day…

Every creative person has their own routine and their own talisman’s to get into their work. Each personal tick and quirk is what makes it your routine, but for those of you who might be interested, here are the three things I need to get into my physical and mental headspace to be able produce something for the day:

Procrastination time
Some people drive to work, ride their bikes, take the train or tram or walk. I wander down the hallway, sit at the dining table and open my laptop. I don’t get the time to get ready for work, mentally processing my list and preparing as others might do on their commute.

Instead, my ‘commute’ is spent mooching about the internet; social media, going through a variety of global news sites, blogs, gossip sites, Reddit, horoscopes, maybe doing some astrology, flicking through emails, sometimes playing some solitaire and sometimes I write a blog piece for my personal blog.

I used to think this was wasting time until a learned PHD-toting friend informed me this was vital procrastination time, where I was settling into my space.

Even if she was being kind, I have clung to this vital treasure of permission to muck about on my laptop for half an hour or so.

It’s as though my mind and body settle, and I can channel and create once I have done my mental stretching exercises. (At least that’s what I tell myself.)

Coffee
I know it’s a writerly cliché, but it’s true, I need coffee. I came to coffee late in life as I craved it when I was pregnant with my son, and since I had low blood pressure, I drank it with abandon. Now I have two cups a day. Made at home, I use Genovese blend with a stove-top percolator and I have a selection of cups I will use, depending on my mood. I don’t feel awake until I have my coffee. The first cup is drunk while I procrastinate, the second one when I am in the thick of writing.

It’s my antidote to my sleepy stupor, which I seem to be in every morning, no matter how early I go to bed.  I feel like everything’s okay with a coffee in my hand.

Music
Not everyone can write to music, but I have had to train myself to have something else besides the sound of my family in my house. I hate being locked in a study to write, as I feel like it’s punishment. I like to be in where the people are, I just don’t like to hear them and this is hard with two teenagers and dogs and husband who also works at home.

When no one is home, I will write in silence, which is bliss, otherwise, I write to music specifically chosen music. I use 8Tracks or Spotify, I try not to listen to music with lyrics, unless I am trying to invoke a certain mood.

Film soundtracks are excellent to write to, as long as you use something that matches you tone of your writing.

And when in doubt, listen to Bach’s Goldberg Variations,  recorded by Simone Dinnerstein. There is an exquisite intention in every single note she plays. I never get sick of listening to her playing, writing or not, it’s a masterpiece.

Miscellaneous
Other things on my desk are, the laptop, of course, a pen, a notebook opened to a fresh page, where I jot down notes and thoughts as I write, the thesaurus tab open on my desktop.

I have a basket of my ‘stuff’ which moves with me around the house, but is always nearby. It’s like a writers version of my handbag, with my backup,  All notifications are turned off on my phone and computer and I get down to business. Wish me luck.

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Here’s some links I found for Kate.
Here is Something For Kate.

1. Look at  these gorgeous baskets. You could fit a whole heap of writerly kit in those, right?! (below)
2. Rookie’s sharing this great list of rad music you might like Kate…
3. I found a dropped package and returned it to its owner. He gave me a packet of THIS coffee (that’s where he works!) You might like it?
4. This pen. It’s lovely. And NEON!

 

More About Kate:
Kate lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, two children and two dogs, and can be found nursing a laptop, surrounded by magazines and watching trash TV or French films.

Kate is the author of The Perfect Location, which has been published in Australia, the UK and Norway. Her latest novels,Seduction (Penguin, Australia) and The Perfect Retreat (Harper Collins/Avon, UK) are out now. She has also written four YA romance books for the Smitten series: Unlucky Break, Head over High Heels, Beauty and the Beat, and Piece of Cake published by Hardie Grant Egmont.

Kate’s next adult book will be released at the end of 2013 by Penguin.

Kate’s website
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