Chris Maxwell (he/him)

Happy Pride!

Be safe.
Be loved.
Believe in your own journey.

Be bold.
Be defiant.
Become what you want and need to be.

Be here.
Be Queer.
Be you.

Trans rights are human rights.

Books read in May 2024.

So. General Election. Just a shame there is nobody to vote for who believes in any reasonable standard of Equality or LGBTQIA+ rights.

Books read in April 2024.

Yes, I am 40. What’s your point?

Today I finished the 2nd draft of my novel. I was happy-ish with the 1st but I think the 2nd is stronger. I’ve lined up some first readers to start sharing some of it with others… which is a bit scary.

Books read in March 2024.

4/ Even if it’s only on my computer and it never goes anywhere else. I can’t believe that I’ve not worked for 3 months and that I’ve spent so much of my savings. It makes me feel quite nauseous. And yet I’ve never done anything that means so much to me.

3/ And also the story I didn’t know existed below the surface of it. I’ve learned so much. Books mean everything to me, and I now have one that’s truly mine.

2/ However, I like it all, and I love a lot of it. The characters are real to me. They live and laugh and breathe for me. I cry when they are in pain, and I laugh when they’re being silly, or cheeky. I have told the story I wanted to.

1/ I’m on chapter 32 of 41 of the second draft of my novel. Whether another human being ever reads it or likes it or not, I’m really proud of it. I have no pretensions that the writing is great. I doubt myself all of time. An editor would have many notes I’m sure.

I’m writing the last few short chapters of my first draft, and I literally can’t stop crying. I have to get it down, but I almost don’t want to. I hate goodbyes.

(And yes, I do know that I will still have beaucoup de re-drafting to do).

Life is hard.

I’m now 93,000 words into my novel draft, and in the endgame of my plot. I’m part proud and excited, part freaked out and having a crisis of confidence. But if I’ve learned anything from the process, it’s to keep going.

Books read in February 2024.

Yesterday, I hit almost 70,500 words on my first draft of my novel, and I feel really inspired - I know exactly what I want to write for the next few chapters. I’m enjoying my characters, and I feel like I’m succeeding in telling the story I want to tell.

Books read in January 2024.

One positive impact of staying home all the time with the intention of writing is that more housework gets done.

Us. Speaking at length… I don’t know what you mean… Seriously, though, that means a lot. To be understood. To be taken seriously. ❤️

Though it sort of haunted him - meant as a statement of his state of mind at a particular moment (a snapshot, if you will) rather than a general writing mission statement - I like that it does speak to a writer’s concern. And that’s why it’s on the arm of my dominant hand.

It’s a phrase/quotation from the opening of Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood - who has been my favourite writer since 2005.

Last week I got my first tattoo, as a late 40th birthday present to myself (delayed because I was nervous about it).

It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. It has to be worth putting in some time and energy. I learned with my reading that you have to make time and space to do things, if they matter to you. You have to be conscious and intentional.

Hopefully - though I don’t plan to leave accounting - it can be something in a field I can be passionate about, or I can find a way to work and pay my way that still leaves me some time and energy for me, and to write.

So, I did it. I finished my job today. The plan is to take a break, and see how much of the novel I can draft, and how much creative and fulfilling leisure time I can have, before I start to panic about how much of my savings I’m spending and look for a new role.

Books read in December 2023.

Books read in November 2023.

It did NOT just take me 45 minutes to work out how to start a load of laundry. Shut up.

Apparently, there is only one acceptable position for me to sit and read in…

Living is a lot like writing. Don’t over-editorialise, or you might just forget to be in it, and paralyse yourself from making progress. And don’t allow too many narrative voices, that way only leads to confusion.