One step at a time
One step at a time, one paragraph. One page, one chapter. That is how we write anything – novels, memoir – and there are no short cuts, really, in the process of producing reams of writing.
So the best thing I can recommend if you are in a hurry is to learn to type properly. It always astonishes me that in this age of technology, that people still type with one finger…Must drive them nuts! You cannot write anything well if you are typing one finger at a time.
I can only give some indication of knowing what to do, by sharing with you what I would do. So, I would, at this juncture in the creative process, ask for the words to come into my fingers, pay attention and write whatever comes, without thinking too much about syntax. That is what I do, when life works for me.
I don’t work all that well with pressure, with any sense that I have to work at this or else…! I hate the sense of threat that comes from setting a routine and then failing to meet self-imposed deadlines. So I write best when I know I’m going to enjoy it, or even, when I feel as if the words are flying through me, without conscious thought. It’s hardly deliberate, it’s more a case of an itch that has to be scratched. I can write direct onto computer, or longhand with a pen.
Each of us has different strengths that we bring to writing, and each of us has to have the courage and honesty to face up to our techniques and consciously devise a method that works. It doesn’t matter if other people call it ‘haphazard’ or ‘casual’ – if it works for you, believe in it.
And believe in your writing.
Please share:
October 23, 2017 @ 12:36 pm
LOL one finger typing. Fran I learned to touch type at school, to music. It was easier on a typewriter and I find computers and the flat keyboard isn’t as easy to type on. Do you find that? I work better under pressure but I know some cannot cope with it. I guess we are all different, thank goodness.I am not a planner, I sit down and write as it comes. I don’t often do more than the one draft either! I know, naughty girl. I edit as I go which they tell you not to do. I am now sitting her thinking what a pain I must be. I don’t play by the rules. Possibly because I have never got involved with other writers, read books about it or done workshops. Writing with Christina Jones was done at a distance, via email and text and we never discussed style either. I really do think you have it nailed, and I shall have to try and become more disciplined. Good luck with all your work. This was a fab read. xx
October 23, 2017 @ 2:48 pm
Jane, thank you so much for all your comments, though I am much afeard you do flatter me awfully. My learning has been at best haphazard and discipline is a skill I am late in acquiring. 🙂 I have never – ahem! – played by the rules either though that has been very largely inadvertent, and not something I did deliberately. Perhaps, it would be better to say, I felt I would never fit anyway so I rather made a virtue from necessity.
I find that being a writer, I fit much more easily in with others with whom I have a lot in common, so that makes me feel at home, which is lovely. And, yes, I don’t think one size fits all. My approach is simply to work at something until I am moderately happy with it, or it makes me laugh. I know, too, when something is simply not good enough, and I itch to make it better. More colourful or real, somehow.
Thank you so much. xx