My Writing Process

When people talk about how someone writes they speak of pantser and outliners. Everyone falls somewhere within this spectrum. The extreme side of pantsing is where someone writes, not knowing where you’re going or where you’re headed. All the way on the other side is outliners. They research and detail everything that will happen before a words of the story is written.

Me, I’m a combination of both, which I believe is where most fall. I’m by far an expert, I’m just telling you how I work through my process.

First, a spark of an idea occurs. I may be watching tv, reading an article, spot something online or even casually talking to someone. However it comes, I make sure I write it done. Yes I’m one of those forgetful people. Ideas, thoughts, images come and go quickly and if one gets my attention, it has to be written.

Once that spark lights up and I think, (sometimes out loud). “That would make a good story.” I write one or two sentences, at times up to a paragraph. Whatever it takes to get the main concept down. 

Next, I normally let the idea stew for a while to make sure the story sticks and keeps my interest. The scenes will develop and I see them in play out in my mind.

Then, I will sit down and write. I write everything I can think about. It could end up only being a few pages or as many as a hundred. As long as the entire story is down from beginning to end. I don’t worry about chapters or the progression of the plot. I write the scene and decide where all those go later.

Finally, at this point is when I outline. I open an excel spreadsheet and plug in the information of each scene. I can now see where I am and where I need to go. I brainstorm and come up with more issues that will happen to my characters or scene to move the issue forward and eventually bring resolve.

Everyone has their own process and as you learn, your process may change. It’s okay, it’s natural. When I first started, I wrote. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just getting the words on the page. 

I realized I needed to be more organized so I did what I knew and opened excel. That's when I was able to see the plot points and work to make sure I was keeping the tension interesting.

Writing is a learning process. Keep writing and keep reading.

My Writing Time

I’m still fairly new to writing. I have several stories I'm working on and one that is from start to finish but don't feel it ready to be released out into the world yet. I've been writing for about five years but being married with six kids and two grand kids, it makes it difficult to focus.

As soon as I walk in the door my 'kids' swarm. And my husband is there in the mix too. Most of time I don’t bother to even bring out my laptop till everyone is in bed or it looks like this…

Add a full time job and that’s even less time to spend in my imagination. I'm lucky enough to have a job that in my down time I can write but that down time is short.



After everyone is in bed it’s time for me to have some quality writing time. 

That's what it should look like... but I'd say what's below is what normally happens...

I'm tired when everyone else finally goes to bed. Going to bed before the crack of dawn so I can function at work is the grown up thing to do. So that's what I do. 

Some day I might have the time and quiet I need to write a full book within a year. For now I squeeze in the words when I can and spend the time with my family that they need from me.

Writing Contests

I’ve been writing for about five years now and didn’t know about all the wonderful contest that are out there. Some of them cost money and can get pricey but a lot of them are free. Thanks to my writing buddy Aften, http://aftenbrookszymanski.blogspot.com/ she introduced me to them.

                                

 

I entered my first contest the beginning of this year. I didn’t get picked by a mentor but it was fun to watch the twitter feed and snag up all the useful info people posted.

 

I entered the most resent contest this month, Pitchwars, and have been twitter stalking. The writing community is one of the best and most up lifting that I have ever come across. Everyone is encouraging and willing to help where they can.

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Whenever I need a boost, for whatever reason, I know where to go. My biggest obstacle is getting over my extreme shyness and reaching out to all the wonderful people.
 

I’ve spent a lot of my time trying to see if a mentor posts something about my book. But they love to be vague and you’re just not sure.
 

 

For most writers, the goal in these contests is to be picked by a mentor and get two months of invaluable feedback.

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For me, at this point in my writing career, I’d like to get a request for more pages. If I can get that, then I’d know my submission is interesting enough to warrant a second look by someone with far more experience and knowledge.
 

But, not getting a request won’t stop me. I’ll continue to read, learn and improve my writing so that the next contest I’ll be that much closer to getting the request I desire so much.

 

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