Are you an integrated writer?

Do the parts of your writing career come together to form a whole like the sky bound moon in this picture or do they wave around each other, touching then parting, like the reflection of the moon on the water?

This was the issue posted by Christina Katz in her blog series '52 Qualities of Prosperous Writers' this week. She writes of "juggling, balancing and harmonizing" separate parts of your writing career to make a whole, complete picture.

One of my favourite writers is Neil Gaiman. This is of course partly down to his writing, but also because his 'work' is so diverse. He's written novels for adults and children (Neverwhere, Good Omens, Coraline), comics (Books of Magic, Sandman: The Dream Hunters), screenplay and theatre plays too. His internal world and imagination are magical and immense. His integrated writing persona is what I would love to aim for.

My own writing career consists of two sides. I write murder mystery plays (and sometimes non murder mystery plays) through my company Murdering the Text. Then there's my other writing which consists of this blog, a couple of short pieces in magazines and my intention to be a published novelist. The main link between those two is this blog, which is taking up more of my time as it develops, but I think there's still a long way to go until I can honestly say I have an integrated writing career. I do feel I'm getting there though. One of the plays I wrote for Murdering the Text could well lend itself to a different media vehicle, television. Another is beginning to sound more and more like the seed of a novel.

Maybe the parts of that reflected image are beginning to come together for me. Maybe soon I'll see the whole of the moon.