Just for Kicks!

Turkey Lurkey said:

I noticed a review in the July Wired magazine on a book titled “How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors”

It gives an insider’s look at the rituals of different writers. So... I thought it would be fun for us to share our own little quarks with each other. Ie. Do you like to use a pen and paper, or a computer? What are your favorite munchies when you write? Is there a favorite writing spot in your home, etc...

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I go back and forth between pen/paper and computer. It really just depends on the subject matter for the moment. And there's always a certain writing time as well as journal or notebook for each separate project. It's weird.

I have no quirks. I'm boring when it comes to how I write.

I write lying on my stomach on the couch, propped on a pillow with my laptop in front of me. Not too terribly quirky, I'm afraid. Certainly nothing that would be mentioned in a tell-all expose (er, imagine that word with the little apostrophe over the e) on writers.

I try to write a little bit before I go to work -- even just 200 words over breakfast is enough to energize me to write more during the day.

Then I try to get in a couple hundred more words at lunch.

Then I attach the file to an e-mail with a cryptic subject line, send it to myself, go home, download the file to my laptop at home, and work some more there. I tend to move all over the house when I write. My husband and I just moved into a new (yet old) place, and every room has clutter. I hate writing in cluttered rooms, so lately I've been gravitating to the porch.

I don't usually snack when I write, but I often drink dark-roast coffee or a small amount of scotch.

Everyday for me is different. I guess it just depends on my mood at the time. I'm usually at the computer with a pack of cigerettes so I don't have to keep getting up. I don't go through the whole pack but having them there helps me. I am a smoker which I don't recommend to anyone so don't start please lol.

Sometimes I listen to the radio or watch tv as I write, if either one is on already. I keep a can of pop on my desk too and sometimes I keep food nearby. I have pens everywhere in my house just in case I get an idea and I can't run to my home office to write it down. Ideas are always popping in my head lol. I can't keep up with them and lose some of them but I've got enough to last a while so no worries there.

I also keep figiting while I write. I'll sit on one leg then switch to the other leg. Sometimes I cross my legs. I don't think I've ever had them both flat on the floor at the same time lol. It helps me from getting up too often. And I always keep the phones right there so when someone calls, I don't have to get up. Too many interuptions cause me to lose my train of thought and I lose interest for the day which sucks cause I need at least 2 hours of writing time a day to finish a book within a couple months. Then I can revise and rewrite, spending another month to get it done completely.

I mostly write at night when my hubby is sleeping cause he likes to call me away from the computer plus he gets his time on the internet since we only have one pc. It's my computer but I don't mind sharing. After the day is over, I can unwind and focus more clearly giving better special attention where it needs to be, on the characters. When I get writers block, I just go to another story and work on that but lately, I haven't needed to which helps get the story done on schedule (mine not anyone elses).

Amber

My first drafts are always done in a note book and have a pencil assigned to each one. I get quite upset when I lose my special pencils. I write in each one every day. If I don't do this they never get finished.
When I start a new story, I have to think I know what's going to happen. I never actually do, but the delusion helps me keep going.
Second drafts are done on my laptop whenever I feel like writing in them, which means they take forever to get done.

I have no rituals...other than I must have coffee. I write on my desktop, laptop, or in notebooks. I have expensive notebooks and pens and cheap ones. I write at work, at home, in the car, at church, at the soccer fields, on vacation...whenever and wherever.

I do have my daily BIC time at my desktop, but I'm not tethered to any one manner and means.

Turkey Lurkey said:

So... I thought it would be fun for us to share our own little quarks with each other.

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Danger Jane said:

I have no quirks.

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I admit to being constructed from a goodly number of quarks and leptons, yes.

Now, did someone ask about quirks?

I have to write with the TV on.

I'm the product of a commerical America.

scarletpeaches said:

I admit to being constructed from a goodly number of quarks and leptons, yes.

Now, did someone ask about quirks?

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lmao.

I actually meant I have no quarks. It was a typo.

I'm made of dark matter. Don't touch me or I'll annihilate us both!!! (probably some of me will be left over; I'm full sized )

RLB said:

I write lying on my stomach on the couch, propped on a pillow with my laptop in front of me. Not too terribly quirky, I'm afraid. Certainly nothing that would be mentioned in a tell-all expose (er, imagine that word with the little apostrophe over the e) on writers.

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What I'm trying to understand is how big/long is your darn couch!

No rituals that I can think of. There can't be too much noise, nobody can be touching me, and I can't generally hold an intelligent conversation while I write. ...Then again, I wrote probably the best sex scene I've written so far while sitting next to a group of stoned friends who were trying to play Catchphrase. (very high entertainment value in that, BTW).

I write very well when I'm at work getting paid to do something else and really busy at it. I like to edit hardcopy with a dark blue gel pen.

I can't think of anything else. I'm booooring.

I usually have a TV on, and I usually go back and forth between an internet page and my word document. Yes, I'm bad like that.

I usually like to be alone. If someone else is in the room, they better not be trying to have a conversation at me, or else I might start speaking incoherently: "now is it me and Harry or Harry and I? Is this legitimate characterization, or just a quark? Or would that be quirk? Hmm, I wonder if we have any cheese...."

I like to be comfy. A nice soft blankie is nice.

The only thing I can handle while writing writing is tea. The kind you take small sips of every so often while it cools. Food gets stuck in the keyboard.

Provrb1810meggy said:

I usually have a TV on, and I usually go back and forth between an internet page and my word document. Yes, I'm bad like that.

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Haha. I do the same thing. I'm addicted to email, damn those equeries.

I listen to my ipod while I write. At least I do until one of my kids comes to shake my shoulder to tell me that the other accidently painted the dog.

Yes. That did happen.

roskoebaby said:

I listen to my ipod while I write. At least I do until one of my kids comes to shake my shoulder to tell me that the other accidently painted the dog.

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What color? It makes a difference.

Like, if it was a white dog, and the kid painted it blue, or purple, or green, that'd be a better story than if it was, say, already blue to begin with.

OverTheHills&FarAway said:

What color? It makes a difference.

Like, if it was a white dog, and the kid painted it blue, or purple, or green, that'd be a better story than if it was, say, already blue to begin with.

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LOL. He's black and gray and my daughter attempted to paint his nails red. Then she thought she'd color in his spots. We had to have the poor thing shaved. She said it was an accident.

Oh well I often write to Law and Order or to my iPod, but the iPod thing is mainly because...my iPod is my soul and I take every chance I get to listen to it.

Danger Jane said:

Oh well I often write to Law and Order or to my iPod, but the iPod thing is mainly because...my iPod is my soul and I take every chance I get to listen to it.

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I second that my iPod is my soul...think I'll go add some Grace Slick to mine today

I write the first draft w/ a black Pilot G2 in the 10/$1 Mead 70ct college ruled notebooks on sale this time of year. I type when it's finished. At least, that's how I did #1 and how I'm doing #3...#2 is stalled at the beginning of chapter 5 because I started it on the laptop...and then never went back.

I have a 1G flashdrive I take w/ me whenever I'm typing. I work on three different computers, so it's a must.

Tea and Mt.Dew fuel the fire.

I like to drink hot chocolate when I write, but most of the time I'm too lazy to make it there. Other than that, I write in a notebook, usually not consecutively either because I use my notebook for everything so it will be like two pages of story and then a page with random religion notes and then maybe back to the story if there's nothing else in between. It's really bad, but I can't stand it any other way. And also, I have to write in pencil. I probably write out most of the stuff that I write first draft-wise, but lately all my short stories have been typed first draft, handwritten second.

P.S. Quark is pretty okay. I've had some before.

Nope. No quirks. Except:
I need to be at the computer.
I need a cup of coffee or hot cocoa or any drink by my side.
No one can talk to me.
The window has to be open, even just a crack, no matter the weather.
I need to have my email open at all times.
Nope. No quirks.

Danger Jane said:

I have no quirks. I'm boring when it comes to how I write.

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Unfortunately this is me too...boooooring.....