My actual birthday was a weekday, and not one of the cooler ones. Rather than move work out of it I moved it out of my workday, giving myself the gift of the kind of time I truly relish. Not an absolutely empty day: however well-behaved I manage to be about utilising my time, a totally empty day is way too shapeless for me to really enjoy it. What I really love is a workday with a hard, ‘stop now’ deadline at the end. That deadline was my penultimate Realise Your Writing Resolutions session. After the workshop, I’d asked my partner to put in place another excellent deadline: pizza would be arriving as I finished the Zoom. It was a beautiful Thursday, balancing time to play with the kind of work that needs to feel like play to be done well.
Giving yourself what you want can sound so easy. So obvious. But that’s not what it felt like. I don’t know about you, but it took me decades to accept the possibility – no, the existence – of there being skill or strength involved. Time was something we simply didn’t have enough of. Anybody who didn’t appreciate how busy we were was a privileged idiot. Yet creating time – not literal hours in the day but the self-knowledge and then the self-esteem to make it healthy and sustainable – can only happen when we give ourselves Room to Dream (thank you again, David Lynch).
Making time is one of my favourite things when I work on in audio drama. What the experience in a character’s head isn’t someone with more or fewer hours than the rest of us, yet how hurried the thoughts and emotions, how busy and cramped or echoey and lonely the psychological landscape, we experience the location and tempo their story takes place in, because that’s what it’s like to be human. We make our own time, whether we’re ready to acknowledge it or not, but it takes time – our time – to learn do it in a way that works for us.
Last night, I had my ‘actual’ (or, I suppose, non-actual) birthday. There was much cake and even more Angelo Badalamenti. I was talking to a friend I met through TM (thank you again, David Lynch) about this way of having a birthday week: making time for the things and people I value, and the value of being able to create that jigsaw of time that is genuinely representative of me. She mentioned another mode of thinking about how we’re honouring ourselves when we do that: the week, rather than the day itself, will cover the moment the planets align as they did when we arrived. I thought about that image, that bigger picture I’ll never see: zooming out, something restored or returning, like those traffic lights outside the action of Twin Peaks commenting (or not commenting: it’s always up to the viewer) in their silent, unobserved consistency and ever-changingness. We don’t make time. We don’t make space. But we have more to do with how we experience our reality than I dreamed.
Audio Drama:
Writing Audio Drama with producer Chris Gregory | From 4 February
Audio drama has enjoyed a huge growth in popularity over the last few years. Major players are commissioning their own original dramas and there’s never been a better time to create your audio play. With producer and independent supplier to the BBC Chris Gregory, develop the skills to write your drama and the confidence to pitch it. Book here.
Come and Write This Week:
The Writing Room | 11am-1pm Monday 27 January
Free for everyone on my mailing list (if you’re reading this, that’s you!). No expectations, no readings, just an open chat box and ten minutes’ (totally optional) chat together at the end. Click here.
Riverscribes Fiction and Memoir | 7-8.30pm Monday 27 January
All the inspiration, support and techniques you need to weave initial ideas into fully realised stories. Whether you’re working on a story, novel or non-fiction, want some creative inspiration, or whether you’re intrigued by the idea of writing and want a creative outlet, this is the place to discover and develop your ideas and your voice. Click here.
Your Creative Writing Toolkit: Editing, Rewriting, Publishing! | 2-3.30pm, Tuesday 28 January
Based on my book of the same name, this is the final session in the current workshop series series solidifying the key skills of writing creatively – whether you’re focusing on fiction, memoir or any other genre or audience. Click here.
Coffee & Creativity | 1-2.30pm Wednesday 29 January
Quality writing time and excellent company! Grab a coffee and have a mid-week chat, a write and then another chat with your fellow creatives. Free for members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here.
Writing Room EXTRA | 3-5pm Thursday 30 January
Members only: please check Voxer messages.
Realise Your Writing Resolutions | 6.30-8.30pm, Thursday 30 January
Don’t just make a commitment to your writing for Christmas and New Year: show it your love throughout 2025. If you’re ready to create more time with and space for your writing, and identify the places you and your writing want to go together, this is where to begin your strongest writing year yet. FULLY BOOKED: JOIN WAITING LIST
If you’re not in the UK, find your timezone here.
You don’t have to be a member to join a Writers’ Gym session. Just sign up for any session. But if you’d like to access our weekly programme for free, and receive 30% off all our other events, email thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com or download a brochure at writersgym.com
For personal training and creative confidence for life, work and art, email info@rachelknightley.com or visit rachelknightley.com