We have nothing more than a blank word processing page with a little blinking cursor taunting us to type something, anything onto the page so it can move from the place where it’s stuck onward to somewhere new. Sometimes, it’s harder to make the cursor move than at others, but eventually we do make it move.
Every author has a different way to go about the writing process. I know that many would find the way I work to be odd, but it works for me, so why change it? Often times, I do begin just as I stated above—with a blank page and a blinking cursor. More often than not, I come up with the best ideas by opening up a fresh new word processing page and typing the first thing that comes to mind. I often have no idea what I’m going to type before my fingers hit the keys. Sometimes, I sit there for several minutes before I begin while at others, I start typing as soon as the page has loaded.
I also write in segments, writing the scenes out as they come to me which isn’t necessarily in chronological order. When I’m done, I arrange them as they should be and work my magic at blending the scenes together. Sometimes, I can do this without tweaking the scenes too much and other times I have to do a bit of rewriting, but it works out either way.
One story at a time? Or two? Sometimes (my word for the day it seems), I work on only one or two things at a time, flip flopping between them. I have been known to work on as many as six different things at once, depending upon how many ideas I have bouncing around in my head at the time. Currently, I have three stories vying for dominance. The only way to placate them is to work on each one for a bit before moving on to the next and cycling through them throughout the day. Some days I can focus on one and push the others to the background, but that rarely lasts long when they are so determined to be heard. The only time it gets confusing working this way is if the characters have similar names or are in a similar story line/genre. Meaning two scifis at once can get confusing in a hurry or two paranormals. Fortunately, the two scifis I have going on at the moment are not that much alike, so it’s not that difficult and the third is a paranormal.
I rarely ever write up a synopsis before I begin writing because I rarely know where the story is going before I begin. As I stated earlier, there are times when I don’t even know what I’m going to write before I start, so in cases like that a synopsis wouldn’t do me any good at all. If I must write a synopsis, I generally wait until I’m done because that’s the only time I can be sure they’ll at least be close to one another. I also wait for the synopsis because I get this sense of “I already wrote this,” when I go to work on the actual story if I write a synopsis first. I don’t do outlines and in fact, I’m not even sure I know how to do an outline anymore. I do, however, take lots of notes. Notecards (index cards to some) are my best friends. I buy them in bulk because they are my multi-use note taking/bookmarks. I use them for just about everything; love the things.
What does my work space look like? At the moment, I’m sitting in the middle of my bed with my laptop on its tray and papers and pens and notebooks and folders are strewn all around me. My husband complains that I leave no room for him when I’m like this. At other times, I’m sitting at my antique desk, again with papers and pens everywhere, and my notes are pinned to the purple living room walls. Yes, my desk is in the main room because when my husband is home, I prefer to be near him. I can (most of the time) tune out the TV, so that’s not really an issue unless it’s something really interesting, then it becomes a problem.
What about when I go out? Well, that’s when I use my handy pink messenger bag that I bought at a yard sale for fifty cents. I call it my portable office. I keep plenty of pens and paper in it along with my ever present notecards as well as notebooks/folders containing whatever I’m currently working on, and my laptop slides perfectly down into it. It’s not one of the larger messenger bags, a bit on the small side but it’s perfect as my portable office. It carries just enough supplies without giving me room to pack too much (Yes, I tend to carry too much more often than not before I got this bag) and end up with a super heavy bag that the husband has to tote around, which he hates since, as I said, it’s pink. My portable office tickles my family, but I don’t care. I feel lost without it if we go out and I don’t at least have it in the car. In fact, I’ve already warned the husband that come time for our trip in November, the bag IS going with me. He didn’t dare argue.
And so, now you know a bit about my quirkiness when it comes to how and where I work. I sometimes (see, there’s that word again) type when writing and at other times I go the long-hand route because there’s just something about ink or a pencil gliding over paper that helps me focus more intently on what I’m doing. So long as something is being written, I’m moving in the right direction.
Is there a point to all of this? Sure. Regardless of your work habits and/or quirks, you’re working toward a goal and that’s always a good thing. Keep up the good work and eventually we’ll get to the end of yet another new book.
Heather
