Kerensa Jennings
I am not sure I experience writer's block as such, but my own version of it... which is that if I am not in the mood to write, I don't.
I use writing to process anything and everything that happens to me - I write bits and pieces and poems every day. Mostly brief aperçus and poems of 40 lines or less.
Throughout my career I have had endless deadlines to work to. In news and current affairs you simply have to make transmission. There is no other choice. So I am very disciplined and can turn things around in a very efficient and effective way. I simply would not have been able to do my job if I couldn't. So many times I was writing a changing headline as the introduction music to a TV programme had started... but I always, always made it.
I started my professional media life at ITN, where I was one of the founding team at Five News; went on to Sky News where I worked on rolling news programmes then as Editor of Sunday with Adam Boulton; then became Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost at the BBC. From there I went on to head up News Specials (where one of the pieces I led was the BBC News coverage of the Soham case); then was the BBC's Election Results Editor, made an eight part series on palaeontology for the BBC's Natural History Unit; then segued into strategy via the Colleges of Journalism and Production. I was the BBC's Head of Strategic Delivery for a number of years.
In all these jobs, making deadlines was a pre-requisite. When it comes to writing for pleasure, I just do it when I want to and I don't when I don't.
With fiction writing, I build my scaffoding and know where I am heading in terms of plot and structure, but the characters arrive fully formed in my head with names and attributes. I find it incredibly exciting as my typing enables the story to be born, my fingers breathing life into unfolding scenes. As a TV producer, I do tend to write in quite cinematic scenes, so my chapters are short and punchy. The process of writing itself is a flow that organically emerges... it is my pleasure to read along as I write and discover what is happening. I find the honing and refining far harder... I have been known to work on perfecting a sentence for an entire afternoon...
Writing Seas of Snow was a labour of love - I did it in all my holidays over several years. I would not have had the time or headspace to simply sit down and write it in between the stresses and responsibilities of my working life.
Time is such a precious commodity... the hardest thing now is choosing whether to do something on social media to help people discover Seas of Snow, or carry on writing! I try to make my times on social media personally enriching and inspiring so that in turn that nourishes my soul and sets me up for writing when I get to that.
I use writing to process anything and everything that happens to me - I write bits and pieces and poems every day. Mostly brief aperçus and poems of 40 lines or less.
Throughout my career I have had endless deadlines to work to. In news and current affairs you simply have to make transmission. There is no other choice. So I am very disciplined and can turn things around in a very efficient and effective way. I simply would not have been able to do my job if I couldn't. So many times I was writing a changing headline as the introduction music to a TV programme had started... but I always, always made it.
I started my professional media life at ITN, where I was one of the founding team at Five News; went on to Sky News where I worked on rolling news programmes then as Editor of Sunday with Adam Boulton; then became Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost at the BBC. From there I went on to head up News Specials (where one of the pieces I led was the BBC News coverage of the Soham case); then was the BBC's Election Results Editor, made an eight part series on palaeontology for the BBC's Natural History Unit; then segued into strategy via the Colleges of Journalism and Production. I was the BBC's Head of Strategic Delivery for a number of years.
In all these jobs, making deadlines was a pre-requisite. When it comes to writing for pleasure, I just do it when I want to and I don't when I don't.
With fiction writing, I build my scaffoding and know where I am heading in terms of plot and structure, but the characters arrive fully formed in my head with names and attributes. I find it incredibly exciting as my typing enables the story to be born, my fingers breathing life into unfolding scenes. As a TV producer, I do tend to write in quite cinematic scenes, so my chapters are short and punchy. The process of writing itself is a flow that organically emerges... it is my pleasure to read along as I write and discover what is happening. I find the honing and refining far harder... I have been known to work on perfecting a sentence for an entire afternoon...
Writing Seas of Snow was a labour of love - I did it in all my holidays over several years. I would not have had the time or headspace to simply sit down and write it in between the stresses and responsibilities of my working life.
Time is such a precious commodity... the hardest thing now is choosing whether to do something on social media to help people discover Seas of Snow, or carry on writing! I try to make my times on social media personally enriching and inspiring so that in turn that nourishes my soul and sets me up for writing when I get to that.
More Answered Questions
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more