- Joined
- Feb 14, 2005
- Messages
- 498
- Reaction score
- 47
As writers we all have our own routines and writing processes. Tell us yours! I'll get things going:
On an average day, I wake up around 6:30 in the morning. I brush my teeth and eat breakfast, get everything health and hygiene related out of the way before I start my activities for the day.
Around 7 I get on the computer and get all those distractions out of the way (Check emails, visit the forums, update/work on my website and visit the sites I visit every day).
I spend an hour on the computer and at 8 I jump into my writing. As far as processes go, I tend to be very organized with schedules and check lists galore. The night before, I try and lay out a list of things I'd like to cover the next day (of course I may veer from the list, but I try to stay on task). As I'm writing, I like to write things out by hand first. I just don't trust computers. The computer I am on now is the second I've had. I got freaked out when my first one kept crashing, and I couldn't get to my writing. So since then, I write everything out first and type it later (usually printing it out, too). My notebooks of choice are legal pads (the blue ones, because those yellow ones hurt my eyes after writing all day). I use Uniball pens, never pencils. I've learned never to use pencils with my writing. I have been developing my novel series for over seven years and there's one early piece of paper I wrote in pencil and the words aren't even recognizable anymore. Pens, always, even if I have to scratch stuff out.
I try to spend 8-12 on my writing and then I take a break. I go walking and do some exercising (I'm trying to slim down) and eat a snack after I take a shower. Around 1:30 I pick my writing up again and work on it another few hours, as long as I can. We eat supper here around 7 at night so that's my cut off point. After I eat dinner, I try to be laid back, and I work on the work outline for the next day (but sometimes I get caught up in my writing again, which is a good thing, but I try and avoid it because I like to have a break).
I think that organization is the best way to go for a writer. There probably aren't many like me here, but I have been working on the same story (initially a soap opera, now a novel series) for over seven years. I JUST started getting organized and it is the best feeling in the world. Keeping thoughts organized will make writing go smoother, atleast that's what I've learned from my experience so far.
Before bed, I check to see what's going on in the forums again, post a few messages and then I hit the sack.
Other processes:
Importance of projects. I think all of us writers have atleast one other project going on when we are writing our main project. I have a HUGE box full of projects. Because I have been working on my novel series for over seven years, it has obviously become my main project. Since I took major steps last Thanksgiving and decided to convert my story from a soap into a novel series, I have decided to put every other project I have going on, on the backburner. I sometimes have minor ideas for other projects, but I think that if other projects are out of the way for a while, you can shift your focus onto your main project, which is working out well for me.
Programs. We all have our own preference of what program we use to type in. I used to type in WordPerfect until it kept freezing on me. Lately I have been using plain ol' WordPad. It rids of the formatting distractions. I can just type and not worry about all the formatting and everything. (Plus I have an AlphaSmart Dana and when I transfer those files onto my computer, they open in WordPad).
Like I said, I like to write in legal pads mostly, but I also write on LOOSE-LEAF paper. I can't stand writing in wire notebooks. It's harder to pull together similar ideas if all your pages are on a big wire, destined to be in that order until your rip them out.
Well, that's just a jumping off point. I'm sure there will be more from me, once others get going. Have fun!
On an average day, I wake up around 6:30 in the morning. I brush my teeth and eat breakfast, get everything health and hygiene related out of the way before I start my activities for the day.
Around 7 I get on the computer and get all those distractions out of the way (Check emails, visit the forums, update/work on my website and visit the sites I visit every day).
I spend an hour on the computer and at 8 I jump into my writing. As far as processes go, I tend to be very organized with schedules and check lists galore. The night before, I try and lay out a list of things I'd like to cover the next day (of course I may veer from the list, but I try to stay on task). As I'm writing, I like to write things out by hand first. I just don't trust computers. The computer I am on now is the second I've had. I got freaked out when my first one kept crashing, and I couldn't get to my writing. So since then, I write everything out first and type it later (usually printing it out, too). My notebooks of choice are legal pads (the blue ones, because those yellow ones hurt my eyes after writing all day). I use Uniball pens, never pencils. I've learned never to use pencils with my writing. I have been developing my novel series for over seven years and there's one early piece of paper I wrote in pencil and the words aren't even recognizable anymore. Pens, always, even if I have to scratch stuff out.
I try to spend 8-12 on my writing and then I take a break. I go walking and do some exercising (I'm trying to slim down) and eat a snack after I take a shower. Around 1:30 I pick my writing up again and work on it another few hours, as long as I can. We eat supper here around 7 at night so that's my cut off point. After I eat dinner, I try to be laid back, and I work on the work outline for the next day (but sometimes I get caught up in my writing again, which is a good thing, but I try and avoid it because I like to have a break).
I think that organization is the best way to go for a writer. There probably aren't many like me here, but I have been working on the same story (initially a soap opera, now a novel series) for over seven years. I JUST started getting organized and it is the best feeling in the world. Keeping thoughts organized will make writing go smoother, atleast that's what I've learned from my experience so far.
Before bed, I check to see what's going on in the forums again, post a few messages and then I hit the sack.
Other processes:
Importance of projects. I think all of us writers have atleast one other project going on when we are writing our main project. I have a HUGE box full of projects. Because I have been working on my novel series for over seven years, it has obviously become my main project. Since I took major steps last Thanksgiving and decided to convert my story from a soap into a novel series, I have decided to put every other project I have going on, on the backburner. I sometimes have minor ideas for other projects, but I think that if other projects are out of the way for a while, you can shift your focus onto your main project, which is working out well for me.
Programs. We all have our own preference of what program we use to type in. I used to type in WordPerfect until it kept freezing on me. Lately I have been using plain ol' WordPad. It rids of the formatting distractions. I can just type and not worry about all the formatting and everything. (Plus I have an AlphaSmart Dana and when I transfer those files onto my computer, they open in WordPad).
Like I said, I like to write in legal pads mostly, but I also write on LOOSE-LEAF paper. I can't stand writing in wire notebooks. It's harder to pull together similar ideas if all your pages are on a big wire, destined to be in that order until your rip them out.
Well, that's just a jumping off point. I'm sure there will be more from me, once others get going. Have fun!
