on writing: INSIRATION?--OR MAKING IT HAPPEN?

     Shirley Jackson, author of the short story The Lottery, is said to have been walking her baby in its carriage through the neighborhood when the story “The Lottery” came to her. She said it came to her all at once.
     A moment of grace.
    So far, that moment hasn’t ever happened for me.
  My process? 

• I write every day. I get a few hours or at least 500 words down before heading to my day job. I find another couple of hours during the day…waiting for classes to begin, lunch, before bed. Just like brushing my teeth twice a day became a routine, so has my writing practice become a routine. Ideas wake me up in the morning. Characters remind me I need to get out of bed and quit complaining I never have enough time to write.

What else am I going to do while having my coffee? Watch the latest news? Not a good practice for optimism. Check my Facebook page? 

• Once my characters begin speaking, I can’t always get them to shut up. I have a notebook in my purse. I use the “Record” on my cell phone.. So I don’t forget to refer to these notations, I have on my calendar a weekly reminder, “Review Journal Notes.”
• I write the first six chapters then write the synopsis. By six chapters of freewriting, I know my beginning, middle, and end. Writing the synopsis gives me a full photo shot.
• I create a notebook. This is my go-to for everything.  I have a photo of each of the main characters as well as their character analysis. A map of the setting. A section where I place research notes. Another place for questions that come up while writing-- a type of journal entry.  From there, I pull up Scrivener.
• I have many friends who use the Scrivener.com program for their full manuscript. So far, I haven’t been able to utilize it in this way. Yes, everything I do in my physical notebook is possible with the program, but I like different perspectives. Sometimes I don’t see on digital what I see on paper, and vice versa. Or maybe, I haven’t taken the time to learn Scriveners’ full opportunities. I do, however, love the Corkboard option. It’s become my method of outlining. By using the corkboard, keeping it open while I am writing in Word, I keep track of Chapters, Themes, Symbols, etc. I review all at a glance.
• I edit as I write. Each day, I go back and read the last three chapters before moving on to the next. It was Hemingway’s process, and it works well for me. Again, so I don’t just read and edit those three chapters, I have a required 500 words to write before leaving for work.

 
And, I still teach for a day job. I read and edit quickly. Move on…

• I can read and edit fast because I am well aware errors will be passed up, and  I will catch them when I read the novel as a whole. I try to take a full day without interruption to do the full novel read…sometimes two, depending on the word count. I just read. I have a writing pad next to me for notions on content editing, and I flag the paper with a red X if I find typos I need to go back and correct.
• I am sure my editor will find much more than I will when I send it off to her.
• Then, I leave the manuscript for two weeks, if not a month. I make the changes. Print it out. Read it aloud.  Lately, I have saved it as a pdf and read it on my Kindle. Again, that different perspective allows me to pull away my mind’s remembered-mental image and catch errors. I know some authors who use audible techniques to play back their manuscripts.
• The manuscript finally ready to send to my editor.

 
The process I use to write is probably very  different than another author’s. We come about the words in different ways, but eventually, we are the same in needing to get those words down on paper.
 
The point of any process…getting it done.

 

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