The Writing Process

A nice post from Devon Ellington on Staying on Track for Non-Deadlined Projects (the reason I’m posting word count progress here). 

A few years back, I saw an advertisement for an anthology, so I emailed the editor asking if it was still open.  She said it was closing in two days, so I wrote a non-fiction article, revised it, and got it in by the deadline.

With the novels, I haven’t had the same speed.  My last one had long periods where not a lot of writing happened, so I’ve worked hard to correct that with MAGIC STUD.  Of course, with MAGIC STUD, I’ve had so many places where I’ve gotten stuck.  It’s been a lot of effort to find the right path.

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Wordage report:

For MAGIC STUD: 1,000 words (Four pages).  Up to 58K.  I’m hopping around a bit, working on the sequence of chapters with one set of characters and will jump back to pick up the other characters.

For SAND DOLLAR MAGIC: 500 words (2 pages) and some change, bringing my total word count to 1K.  This story is in first person, which felt right for the story.  I’m still not comfortable with the viewpoint.  That’s odd, isn’t it?  A lot of writers gravitate straight to first person because it feels like it makes the story easier.  Other than SAND DOLLAR MAGIC, I’ve only written one story in first.  Everything else has been in third.  Even my very first story, written when I was eight, was in third.  Most of the books I read were in third, so I just followed along with what I read.

Writing Time Saving Tip

This tip is thanks to The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before it Manages You–but it’s not a tip about email.

Create a shortcut on your desktop to your writing folder.  I did one for each of my book projects.  Then, all you have to do to get at any of the files is to double-click on the icon and you’re in the folder.  I remember a coworker from several years ago who would do this with files, and she’d have fifty files all over her desktop, making everything hard to find.  This is much simpler because the folder goes to all the files, and the file names can change without impacting the shortcuts.

Taking it a step further, if you don’t like any of the default icons, you can change them to a different image.  IconArchive is a site I found with a lot of nice, free icons.

Resisting Temptation

Sometimes one of the hardest things in writing a novel is resisting tempation to fiddle.  During the writing of the first 100 pages, I have to keep the chapters in separate chapters.  Otherwise, what’ll end up happening is that I’ll get stuck and start fiddling with the first couple of chapters.  A word change here, a word change there.

The problem is that it’s non-productive.

The problem is also that it feels productive.

The reason it’s non-productive is because it takes time away from solving the problem that caused the diversion in the first place. 

Another reason it’s non-productive is that those chapters often bite the dust during revisions.  A couple of projects ago, I laboriously spent time revising the first chapter, trying to make it work before finally moving on.  Halfway into the story, it became apparent where the book needed to start, and it wasn’t that chapter.  I think about three were tossed out total.  So all that time I spent early on didn’t do anything other than keep me from moving on.

Sometimes it’s just as important to keep moving and making progression rather than to fix.

What I Learned From Non-Traditional Sources 2

When everyone starts writing, we all tend to hit the writing resources for whatever we’re writing.  For novelists, it’ll be the how-to books on writing novels and the how-to articles in Writer’s Digest on writing novels.  But sometimes other, unexpected sources can influence or provide insight into the writing process.

This time, it’s for a book on Lean Six Sigma, called Lean Six Sigma Demystified.   Lean Six Sigma is the combination of two processes for quality improvement in business processes.

One of the things that particularly struck me was a commentary in the book on–of all things–color coding.  If you’ve ever had blood taken at a hospital, you’ve probably noticed that the vials had different colored caps.  That makes it easy to identify at a glance if it gets put in the wrong place and helps keep mistakes from being made.  The book itself said it’s very human to associate a color with something.

Taking that back to writing …

I’m in the transition period of finishing one project and launching into a second one, with a couple more in the wings.  How do I keep them straight?  I’ve been to the library and discovered I had the wrong notebook (this was with the notebook labeled).  Now I’m working on the first chapter for the Morro Bay project, and I’m thinking, “How do I keep these straight in the file cabinet?”  I still have research that pops up for the first book, too, and of course, am working on chapters for that.

Color coding.

The Morro Bay book becomes associated with the color blue–the color of the ocean, which works out great as instant visual reminder.  So I have a blue notebook and blue file folders.  Sometimes I record small bits of research–like what I might spot at a museum on in a book–on 5×7 index cards.  I also print sections of web pages with information.  Those could be color coded with a blue sticker or a blue flag sticky.  That way, if I get a pile to be filed, I could easily separate what goes where by color instead of having to look at each paper to see what it’s about.

Taking Writing Seriously

An interesting post on the Writer as a Spendrift from J.A. Konrath.   This post is full of many wonderful tidbits.  A few below:

The bookshelves are crammed full of books about how to write killer query letters and bestsellers. But I only know a handful out of hundreds that were actually written by bestselling authors.

I’ve always noticed that most of the writing books on fiction are done by people who don’t seem to be writing fiction.  If all the non-fiction writers in my critique group complained about how hard it was to try to write a novel and ultimately quit, then how can a non-fiction writer who hasn’t written any fiction teach people how to write fiction?

I know many folks with procrastinitis. They cloak themselves in the trappings of all things literary, spends scads of money pursuing their dream, fantasizing about it constantly. Yet they rarely sit their ass in the chair and write.

I’ve known several people like this.  They talk about it, they fantasize about it, but they don’t actually do any writing.  Books don’t get written if no one sits down to write them.  And I’ve even had to tell myself that.  I used to wait for inspiration or do it when I felt like it; consequently, it took me a long time to finish anything.  I often went many months not writing at all.  Then, about two years ago, I ended up in the position where I had to fight for my writing, and I realized I needed to sit down and write as close to every day as possible.  And not just a paragraph, but at least a couple of pages.  It’s particularly tough going during the early phase of the novel, but once I hit a halfway point, it gets easier.  I just hit 43K today; my goal is 70K, so I’m more than halfway there.

Making Time to Write

I think one of the most important things about writing is that if a writer wants to get published, he has to write.  Not just wait for inspiration, but discipline themselves to sit down at the computer and write.  Otherwise, the book’s never going to get finished.

For a long time, writing every day really scared me.  At one point, I was trying to break into screenwriting.  A well-meaning person told me if I wanted to get anywhere I had to write a script a week (we’re talking anywhere from 40-120 pages).  So I wrote a script a week for about 30 weeks and burned myself out so completely I had writer’s block for two years.  That’s always been in the back of my mind when I hear about word count goals and writing every day.

But I’ve come to realize that I do need to write everyday.  About two years ago, I ended up in the rather bizzare position of having to fight for my writing with another person.  It made me realize that I also had to fight this fear of burning out, too., if I wanted to be published. 

Not only have I been discipling myself to sit down at the computer and get something on the page (and more than a couple of words), but to come up with a list of ideas that can be turned into stories.  It’s not at the same level as the days when I tried to write screenplays; I’m not racing through a story trying to hit a high page count.  The goal, in fact, changes depending on my mood.  Sometimes I decide to write two pages or four, or a thousand words, or to finish a chapter.  One of my recent ones occurred because I was nearing 40K, so my goal was to reach that.

Too many people talk about the idea, as if they were going to magically transform into a wholly completely book and then never get around to writing it.  Ideas don’t turn themselves into stories.  Writing turns them into stories.

End of the Year Records Review

With the end of the year coming up, it’s time to review all my files and see what I can get rid of.  I’m currently going through my computer’s files to see what I need, what I have to archive, and what I can get rid of.  I always find something I can get rid of!

Next up are the paper files, and those will take a lot more time.  This is a handy link on Records Retention, though do check the IRS website for publications on retaining tax materials. 

NOTE: If you’re getting rid of old receipts, do shred them first.

Forms and Checklists

One of the handiest time management tips I’ve learned is to use forms and checklists where possible.  Why spend time making something if it’s already been done?  Here’s a list of downloadable forms from Real Simple that range from Packing Lists to Emergency Contact Forms.

If you have anything in your writing where you are repeating the same thing (i.e., a query letter or a query letter in email), make a master form for it so that you cut down on the number of steps.

Organizing Links

I tend to accumulate a lot of links as I write.  Some of them are links to research that I need for my story, but a lot them are related to writing.  Like an agent link on word counts.  It’s something I want to keep, but I’m not going to refer to very often.  The result is that as I save them in My Favorites in Internet Explorer is that I end up with a lot of clutter.  Of course, then I can’t find anything, so I start deleting–at which point, I need one of the links (grumble, grumble).

I was doing some non-related research on Web 2.0 (that’s social networking) and ran across a link sharing site called Delicious that was being used to by someone for news articles.  It had a lot of great potential to organize all these links using categories and even short descriptions.  I can also make some of the links private if I want.  It’s been a great resource for keeping all these links organized and is worth a look if you’re having the same troubles.

My listing is here:  http://delicious.com/Garridon

List of Five: Dealing with Paper Files

Writing always generates paper–sometimes it seems to multiply faster than rabbits do.  So here are some ideas on keeping it better organized:

1.  Avoid saving all the multiple revisions.  I went through my archive of files last year and was amazed at how many folders contained not only the final draft, but each revision.   The only thing that counts is the final draft.

2.  Put research materials in the same folder as the story.  That way, you can always find the material if you need it again.

3.  Avoid “Miscellaneous” folders.  These tend to end up as catch-all folders, and often, the stuff in them probably isn’t needed in the first place.

4. Use a label maker to mark the folders.  Folders just feel more organized when the label looks nice.

5. It should go without saying, but the papers won’t get into the folders if they don’t get filed.