My Writing Process
How any writer plans, plots and proceeds is as individualised and personal as their method of organisation – or lack of it. If the word ORGANISE makes you shudder – if chaos is your thing, think about it with the Later Writer for a while. This post is for you…
In my previous post Plans – Do They Maketh the Writer, Sooner or Later? I wrote (towards the end):
in the commonly understood sense, I am not a writer.
What I meant is, I am not currently a published writer/author. Gone is the children’s books website, the catalogue copy I used to write about books, the community publishing I was involved in etc.
Here and now, I’m creating Later Writer to offer the experience I have:
- through years of trial and error
- through years of experience
- through study and work
- through reading, both books and online
Trial and Error
In the years when I was writing professionally, I spent TOO MUCH time worrying about records and NOT ENOUGH enjoying the process of inventing stories or writing book reviews. It was as though I thought all I needed was an exemplar administrative system.
Experience
Nowadays I know I simply need
- a diary
- a notebook – or should I admit to a notebook addiction
- pens, pencils, highlighters
- a laptop so I could write where I want to
- online recordkeeping or spreadsheets
It is the last entry I wish to explore in these posts. Currently, I favour filing hard copies of my work in a filing system. I use my Google calendar to record submission dates, competition deadlines and other details.
Study and Work
There is a type of writing bible in UK. It is the Writers and Artists Yearbook – this link takes you to a non-affiliated results page on Amazon.co.uk where you can see the latest issues.
Reading
This includes:
- pleasure/leisure – stories, novels, poetry, magazines
- specific study – a new writing challenge, seeking out competitions and markets,
- research – a new theme, a new setting, a new anything!
So Far, So Good…
Through the first posts and pages of Later Writer, I’ve used several ways to describe the same idea:
1. to explore and improve her own writing projects and life
2. to explore and improve your own writing projects and life
3. to create an online community of later writers
Encouragement
I will be adding more resources eventually, gradually. Meanwhile, if you are new to creative writing, start planning with my series of posts about Writing Markets.
