Thursday, February 27, 2014

How do I write? Let me count the ways... 2

Wow--if it is going to take me 3 weeks to make a new entry, this blog is not going to be very active. Not that it had been very active...

When I last posted, I was starting to have that writing "itch". Part of it was the need to siphon some of the thoughts out of my head; part of it was the need to feel like I could still put words on paper in a coherent manner; but part of it was a novel Kee had written and put in a drawer, lo, these many years ago. Her characters started poking me in the brain last fall, and they had been stewing in there ever since. So I put on my big girl panties and asked her if she would mind if I took a stab at revising her novel. She was generous to say yes, and that went into the stewpot, too.

Like I said, the stewpot bubbled for months before I had time to turn to do anything about it. I still have a bunch of grading to do, but now the stewpot is starting to boil over, and I am afraid that if I don't get in there and work on it, it will boil away. (Not the best metaphor ever, but work with me here.) Yesterday I actually got words on paper--the train is the best place to write, I must say--and I kind of got a high off it. Yes, I scratched things through and moved things around--it wasn't a Romantic outporing of inspiration, it was hard work, but that hard work was *so* satisfying.

Now I am trying to decide if I want to keep writing longhand straight through, or if I should type up what I have each day before starting on the next bit, or if I should wait for a chapter break, etc. So many decisions! I'm just afraid that some premature typing would derail me. And there is the answer--as long as I can keep the plot of what has already happened in my head, I'll just keep writing. If I reach a sticking point or can't remember what I've already said, I'll go back and type it up to refresh my memory and give me a chance to think ahead.

No comments:

Post a Comment