It's Thursday again, so it's time for the Author Blog Hop, hosted by Sassy Brit at Alternative Read.com. Each week a question is posed, and authors post their answers. Then everyone hops along!
This week's question: What's an average day of writing for you?
It all depends on what day it is. If it's a weekday, I don't write until nighttime because in the mornings I home school my son and then in the afternoons I go to work to teach other people's children. If it's Saturday, I begin writing at around 10 am. Whenever I begin, I hand write everything, so I sit on my bed with my notebook and pen, a large glass of iced tea, and music playing in the background. When I get situated, I begin by reading over what I wrote the previous day to see where I was going and what mindset I was in. I do a brief edit session after I read over the pages, checking for grammar issues, repetition, and incomplete thoughts. When I've cleaned things up a bit and expanded on things I'd left unfinished, it's time to begin.
Because handwriting a scene or chapter takes longer than typing it, I have time to think through the characters' actions and motivations, their dialogue, and the action taking place. I find this works well for me because I may get 4-5 pages written in a few hours or up to 25 pages written on a Saturday or Sunday. (Admittedly, while I may not take a break when I write at night, I do take a break during the weekend 12 hour marathon. Usually, I take an hour or two off to exercise and grab a bite to eat.)
When I can sit down and relax with my writing, whether at night after a long day or on a weekend morning, everything else in the world seems to disappear and all that's left is me, my ideas, and the notebook and pen.
8 comments:
You write pretty much the way I do. I am so glad. I thought I was a dinosauer but I love pen and paper.
Nothing wrong with that. I love the feel of pen and paper. My critique partner is the same way, but she takes it a step further and uses pencil. We're old school! LOL
I've handwritten my novel-length MS's, using pencil so I can erase. But sometimes it smears, which can be tragic. Your week-ends sound heavenly, by the way!
Good to know we're not such a rare breed after all! I hand write everything
Me five! something about only using one hand instead of both on the computer makes the words flow smoother and the ideas. I don't type until after the first or second draft is done. back when i worked outside the home, i followed about the same pattern only i seemed to never gain too many pages during the week with the reread and editing of what i did during the week. my train of thought just didn't chug along.
How about that! I don't feel so odd anymore. Thanks ladies! :)
I handwrite too, LOL and I must say I do like your idea of writing in bed in the mornings. No computer distractions, and I can get up early without getting out of bed! :)
Interesting post. It's great to discover new ways of doing things.
Gabrielle, you're an interesting person and this is an interesting blog post. Thanks for sharing. I used to use the pen a lot because I couldn't see the lead print well and now my hands shake too much to write well enough to read what I've written though I still do when I can. Mostly it's computer now which is much easier to get rid of my mistakes.
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