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.

How do I write? Let me count the ways... 1

I've been dragging around a paper journal for quite a while now, but I mainly use it for 2 things--complaining about myself and making lists.

I like making lists, and making them makes me feel in control, so that is not actually a problem. But on the other hand, if I put more on my lists than I can reasonably accomplish, I beat myself up about the lack of accomplishment rather than try to figure out what is a reasonable amount to accomplish in one day and how to schedule the other items on other days.

I bought a book, Getting Things Done by David Allen, that was recommended to me to help with organization, but a lot of it is aimed at managers, so I haven't actually finished it yet. One thing that was somewhat helpful, though, was his argument that unfinished tasks--whether big or small--prey on our minds, even when we are not consciously thinking about them; to counter this, he suggests making a master to-do list as a way of siphoning off this unconscious worrying. I have to admit that this has actually worked as promised: I don't feel like I am flying apart all the time. But I am not good about going back and reviewing the list on a regular basis to see what must or can be fitted into my upcoming schedule.

The other problem with the master list is that I don't know where I should put it. I mean that literally--I have been keeping it in the back of my paper journal, but since I am not actually reviewing it or updating it on a regular basis, there is really no need for me to be dragging around those extra pages. Also, whenever I fill a journal, I have to copy those pages into the new one or cut them out and tape them in. I tried putting the master list on index cards in a filing box, but I have not opened the box even once since I spent a whole afternoon arranging it.

I like it when I can approach things in a systematic way, I just have not been able to work out a good system yet, and that is what drives me crazy. I really like the feeling of writing things out by hand, which is one of the main reasons why I drag around a paper journal, and I also want to have something that is readily available for my note- and list-making. But searching back through my notes is made that much harder by having everything jumbled together on paper. I am too lazy to go back and type up my journal, and frankly, most of it is moaning, so I don't really want to type up most of it.

And now I seem to have lost control of any argument I might have been trying to make.

***

Obviously, this blog has been defunct for a *very* long time now. I don't think either of us has done much writing to speak of, or none that we are ready to talk about yet, so I am going to highjack this space for my own purposes, which are mainly to get back in the habit of expository writing. So don't expect much entertainment value.