Welcome back! This week's topic is 'What is your writing process?'
Answer: I really don't know.
I've written books in a month, involving several hours' worth of pounding the keyboard and snarling at any interruption.
I've written books which have taken years, yanking every word from my brain, much like a toddler in the throes of a colossal temper tantrum.
Then there was last Wednesday......
I was working on a new short story, and being under an intense deadline (long story short, I thought my original story was accepted, but discovered two weeks before publication, they were asking me to revise it! Thankfully, publication has been delayed another week...okay, that wasn't so short,,,,are you getting ANY sense of my thought process yet? LOL!), I was rather stressing out about the way the new story was going. I sat down to watch Jeopardy, when one of the clues sparked an idea. As soon as the commercial break began, I jumped up and went to the computer and wrote.....then back to watch more Jeopardy.
Then Survivor began. I'm a die-hard lover of this show, so, you guessed it....every commercial break I was back at the computer, pounding out the words and relying on my mother to yell, "It's back on!" This went on for the next two hours.
Let me stop a minute and mention the fact we'd ordered Chinese for dinner. I had fully intended to get another plate of Mu-Shu Pork while watching the premier of this season's Survivor. With the brainstorm, this didn't happen!
After Survivor, I went back to the computer and finally finished that damn story ninety minutes later. Then returned to the kitchen to find my dear mother had carefully packed up my food and placed it into the refrigerator! So at eleven-thirty at night, I finally finished my meal, and watched an old Perry Mason episode with my mommy.
Mom asked how the story was coming along, so I told her I'd finally finished it. She smiled at me and said, "It's so amazing how your brain works!"
I'm interested in seeing if the other authors on this hop share this, or are there those who actually plot, outline, and write, as we were taught in school, or if we're all pantsers? When I write longer books, I like to have a sense of where the story is taking me, but occasionally it's nice when the characters simply hijack your brain and all you can do is hang on for the ride!
Normally at this time, I'd provide a link to the others on this hop, but no such link appears to exist...so keep checking back HERE.
EDITED: There's a new post with links: Go Here.
4 comments:
I'm with you. I don't plot or plan. There are days when the words just flow and others it's a struggle. I'm in one of those struggle times now. Eventually it'll get done I just have to find my focus and inspiration again since my characters are in the corner snickering at me as I gain more gray hair trying to figure it all out.
I gotta admit that you're the first writer I've ever known who admits to writing during Survivor's commercials.
I guess there’s no blog hop post this week, but here’s my process.
I couldn't write during commercial breaks. Switching focus that often would do me in. I moved from pantser to more of a plotter over the last couple of years. It's helped me with staying on task.
@Meka: Yup...one of the hardest things I've ever had to do was rewrite something when I wasn't 'feeling it' and being under an intense deadline, or risk being left out of the project. Thankfully, the muse came through!
@Ed: LMAO! Proof I have a 'split personality'???
@Cailin: I once plotted out an entire book while in a noisy bar. I guess I can focus on just about anything.
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