Inspiration strikes on the A65

An update on my writing...

Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash

Something happened on my way back from Belfast. I’d just landed at Leeds Bradford Airport and was heading home when I had an idea.

It was almost eight o’clock at night. I’d had a long couple of days with work, travelling for a conference and facing the toughest challenge of my career, trying to make it to Belfast and back without exceeding the 7kg luggage allowance. Given I usually travel with a full library in my suitcase, it wasn’t easy.

After such a hectic time, the tiredness wasn’t just creeping in but had taken over. Creativity, and anything requiring any sort of brain power, was beyond my capability, so when an idea dropped into my mind, it took me completely by surprise.

My internal dialogue went a little something like this.

What a shame I’ve had to let the Comedy Women in Print (CWIP) competition pass me by. It’s a great opportunity.

I know, but I’m not ready. My novel in progress isn’t finished. What else can I do?

Don’t I have anything else I could enter—something that’s almost finished? I’ve started enough books and projects over the years—surely something will suffice?

Not really.

Anything in a drawer that I’ve abandoned and could revive? It’d be a shame not to try.

No, there’s nothing. I’ll have to let it go.

On I drove, trying to put the thought of the CWIP and the missed opportunity out of my mind. But, as I turned onto the A65, through Yeadon, heading towards Horsforth and the centre of Leeds, inspiration struck.

What about the project I started last year? The one I planned to self-publish? It isn’t finished, but it’s much closer to the finish line than the current work in progress.

It had the structure. It had the story, and, more importantly, it was funny, which is essential really for a comedy novel. In its current form, it would be too short for the specified 60,000-to-80,000-word submission, but with some hard work and serious tweaking, I could cobble an entry together.

I almost slammed on the brakes in shock. What a brilliant idea. Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? I would have saved myself so much nattering over this award. For most of the year, I’ve been umming and ahing about whether to enter the CWIP competition. Many times, I’ve tried to forget about it, but it refused to go away, popping into my mind at any opportunity—in the shower, at work, out on a run and now on the creativity hotbed that is the A65.

I was looking forward to entries closing so that it would be over and I’d no longer have the worry. Now I’d had this moment of inspiration, everything was different. I gained clarity. I knew exactly what I needed to do and the next morning, after a good night’s sleep, I got up early and got to work.

I made the deadline, entering 5000 words and a synopsis. After all the weeks of angst, it was a lovely feeling to press submit.

It isn’t over, though. I still have the rest of the novel to pull together to a good enough standard just in case they like my work and want to see more.

That’s what I was doing last weekend when I took a week off my Substack, (thanks for your understanding, btw). That’s what I’ve been doing this week, and what I will keep doing until the final call.

My eyes are twitching from hours staring at my laptop screen. My arms are sore from so much typing, but there is no way I’m giving in now. Some opportunities are worth fighting for and I am certainly fighting for this one.

About me: I’m Liz Champion, a writer from Yorkshire, still at the kitchen table, bashing out words to meet a book deadline.