Writing Routines

“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.” ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs

The age-old writing advice: write as often as you can. Where you can. When you can.

I was talking to my local writing group friends the other day and it dawned on me that I write in snatches. At the time, I hadn’t thought much about how and when I write.

But it is important, I realize now, to be aware of this, because then it is possible to improve the routine for a better quantity and quality of writing.

I wake up first thing in the morning and write for ten minutes before I freshen up. Dream journal, whatever.

I write while waiting for a cab I have called. Write while waiting for the pasta to boil. Write a post based on writing prompts.

I do sit down and write an hour or so every once in a while, a few times a week, and usually get an average of 4000 words written a week. So, I have learned not to complain.

I know I haven’t yet made it to the stage of discipline where I sit down and write every single day at a particular place. My favourite writing days are those when I get a lot done in snatches, finish a story, for example, or do a series of writing exercises.

I’m getting a few short stories published in Antologies here and there, but I wonder if my sort of writing routine would be any good for longer stretches of work. Since most of the girls on this blog are novel-writers, prolific ones at that, I’m curious. Is it possible to write a novel in snatches?

How do you write? How often? What is your writing routine?

Bookmark This

I know, how do you forget to come back to something you love?

Beats the ^&*% out of me!

But it happens. Over and over again. I have finally decided, that until it stops happening, it’s okay. This is hard for me, because I have always prided myself on my memory. Since it has left for the time being, I have no choice but to accept its lose. But I’m still writing some and if I get reminders (if I’ve promised an edit to anyone) I’ll do some of that too. At least my brain functions well enough to write and edit. (When I remember to do it.)

What troubles do you have that keep you from what you love? Am I the only one with brain freeze? What do you do to get through the rough times? And if anyone has ideas about how to help stimulate my brain to remembering, I’m all ears!

Bookmark This

Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

---

Last weekend, I participated in a workshop by Patrick Gale and Suchen Christine Lim.

Both of them were quite adamant about the use of pen and paper. Pen and paper, they said, would not let you edit as you draft, which is very important for first drafts.

Also, it slows down your thinking and writing, which, apparently, is a good thing. They even said something about writing by hand being an organic process as opposed to typing, closer to our hands and hearts.

This brought to mind my writing teacher and friend, who does not allow laptops in her creative writing classes for beginners. An year ago, I could not imagine putting pen to paper, it seemed an alien skill after years of typing.

But when I started off, I realised that with pen and paper I could access the creative side of my brain much easier. Thus far I had typed out all my articles, official letters, reports and so on. So, for me, the pen and paper became the starting point for all my first drafts, after which I typed them on to a document.

While typing I started editing automatically, my first draft virtually became my second draft. I printed this out, and started scribbling on it, adding in and deleting parts, then typing them in again.

This has become my de-facto drafting process for all my short stories. I have not managed a novel yet, so I don’t know what drafting an entire novel by hand would be like. As others have said, it could have its disadvantages.

Patrick Gale does all his first drafts in long hand on notebooks. As writers we have all have different processes, and I’m curious to know how other writers create their drafts. So how do you draft your work?

Bookmark This

I gave up Twitter and Facebook for Lent.

*taking a deep breath and wiping sweat from my brow*

When I told my husband he had an interesting reaction. He said, “Aren’t you just going to be hurting your platform by doing that instead of helping?”

To which I said, “I don’t think so. I’ll still be blogging.”

Bu then I sat back and thought about all the tweeting I do with agents and other authors and began to wonder, am I hurting myself more than helping?

Well regardless the choice has been made and I intend to stick with it.

Do you think taking a break from social networking would hinder your career as a writer? Would you be able to give it up for a full 40 days and 40 nights?

Bookmark This

Marybeth is an aspiring novelist currently working on her second novel. For more information visit her website www.marybethsmith.com. She also has a blog Desperately Searching for my Inner Mary Poppins where you can keep up on her moments as mother, wife and writer..

---

1. Useful links to terrific articles and pointers from agents etc.

2. An Agent’s Wish List

3. Fab Writing Tips

4. Checkpoints when writing scenes

5. Brainstorming Techniques

Some of the links contain links to more useful writer’s resources.

Happy Reading, Girls!

Bookmark This

It’s inevitable that as you start on your journey in creating a story, you don’t start at day one. So where do you start?

For me, when I first started writing, I started too early into the story. My friend Bethany helped the inexperienced me understand that the story starts often after the trauma, after the move, after the big change. That ridded me of my first two chapters of book one. Now, as I write, I try to start where the story actually begins, but I realize that often I still need someone to say, “Nope, here’s the start to your story.”

That leaves the backstory to be woven into the novel, not dumped in, but layered throughout.

Often, we tend to think that something can’t be cut because it’s important for the reader to know. So, my question is: How do you work it in without dumping it?

Bookmark This

Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

---

A Writer's New Year

Nature does not know New Year. It is we that have set up divisions between time, so we can mark the changes that happen to us, record our histories, close our books, make new beginnings.

So New Year is an entirely “unnatural” way of seeing things, but a great one nonetheless. It gives us a moment of pause when we sit back and introspect on what has passed by, and what is still to come.

It is an especially important time for writers. They ruminate over what they’ve achieved over the year, the stumbling blocks they have encountered, and how they’ve coped with it all.

Queries sent out, books under edit, a book begun, a book that’s hit a writer’s block, each writer has something to think about and resolutions to make.

I’ve seen a few awesome New Year posts this time, one of them is here. It has made me think of my role as a writer, things I ought to do, or have undertaken.

I have spoken about my New Year thoughts here. What about you? What was running through your head at the turn of the decade? What resolutions did you make, what work did you feel proud of, what do you look forward to as a writer in the New Year?

Bookmark This