Thursday, March 27, 2014

A Peek at My Writing Process

I've been tagged! :) Robyn LaRue invited me to participate in a blog hop and share a little bit about what my writing process is like. Thanks, Robyn!

As I mentioned in this post, each day for me is different. Some days I'll write five-thousand words, three blogs posts, tweet like crazy, comment on every post my blogging friends write, and answer all of my e-mails. And other days, I'm like this.

via We Write Together!
I wish I could say, "On a typical day, I usually do xyz." But there's no such thing as a typical day for me. I would love to be able to do this every day:

-Get up at 8:30-9 (when everybody else in the house is usually still asleep)
-Get dressed
-Write 1,000 words before breakfast
-Have breakfast
-Write another thousand words

But in reality, my morning goes a little something like this:

-Turn off alarm clock
-Yawn and think, Just five more minutes. I won't even close my eyes . . .
-Wake up half an hour later
-Tiptoe downstairs with my pajamas still on, because if I take the time to shower and get dressed now, I won't have any time to write before my mom and brother wake up
-"Quickly" check my e-mail, Feedly, and Twitter
-Glance at the clock: "It's that time already?!"
-Eat something for breakfast before breakfast turns into lunch
-Write two hundred words before my mom and brother wake up and the dog needs to go outside and oh wait I forgot to clean that up and hey can you help me out real quick and did you all have breakfast yet and we should probably get ready for the day and--

Okay, that doesn't happen all the time. Most of the time, it's somewhere in between. For example, this is what happened this morning:

-Wake up at eight
-Shower
-Go back to bed for another half hour
-Sit down at the computer at nine
-Check e-mail, Feedly, and Twitter (which doesn't last more than ten to fifteen minutes, this time)
-Write 1,000 words
-Write this blog post
-Have breakfast

So there you have it. A little peek at my writing process. I'm going to tag all of you, so anyone who wants to write about their writing process, jump right in! :)

6 comments:

Boquinha said...

Okay, so I feel like the villain in this story! :P I must admit, though, that I do interrupt her without meaning to. Sometimes I'm having a big, long conversation with her from one room to another and it takes me 10 minutes to recognize, "Oh, she's writing. Oops."

She is very patient with me (at least on the outside - only she can speak for what is going on in her head - I suspect it's something like, "Oh my god, my mother can talk!") and I usually apologize and try to let her have her space and quiet to write. I know what it's like to be on a roll with writing and I know how important quiet, uninterrupted time can be in that process.

And while I DO need to make sure that we get some other academics and housecleaning done around here, there's not much I can do about the little brother and dog. They DEMAND her attention. But they're both so loving and cute, it's hard to resist. ;)

So, our side of this would go something like this:

Anyone: Where's Kate?
Us: Writing.
Little Brother: Not playing with me.
Dog: WOOF!

Anyone: What's Kate doing?
Us: Writing.
Little Brother: Not playing with me.
Dog: WOOF!

Anyone: Is Kate available?
Us: She's writing.
Little Brother: I doubt it. She's not playing with me, so she's probably writing.
Dog: WOOF!

Anyone: What does Kate like to do?
Us: Write, Read, Archery, Bake Cookies, Play games, watch movies, Hang out with friends, etc.
Little Brother: Write, write, write. Read, read, read. I'm seriously worried about that girl!
Dog: WOOF!

The Magic Violinist said...

@Boquinha BA HA HA! You wrote Maxim's answers perfectly. I have seriously heard him say all those things at one point.

You are so not the villain! I actually feel like I have very supportive parents when it comes to my writing. (Though you can talk.) ;)

CG @ Paper Fury said...

Oh, I hear you!! This kind of looks like my writing process...except I don't get anything construtive done before breakfast. *sigh* ONCE I did! When I was writing my sci-fi book back in December, I got up at 6:30 every day for a week, went for a run, had my shower, then wrote 2K before breakfast and then another 4K or so throughout the rest of the day. I look back and think, " how did that even happen?!" Sometimes I'm just more inspired and productive, eh? ;) lol! Great post!

The Magic Violinist said...

@Cait WOW, that's a lot of discipline! I'm still amazed at how often you blog, write, and still have the time to read as much as you do. You've already read, what, 60 books this year? I envy your speedy reading! :P

Dr. Mark said...

I am continually amazed by all you accomplish in a short time each day. Hearing your keyboard click away is a very familiar and soothing sound for me. I know there are days where things don't go so smoothly, but I'm impressed by how things flow for you so often.

Stacy, great dialogue. Now I know what I'm missing in the morning, although I've heard similar banter on many occasions.

The Magic Violinist said...

@Dr. Mark Yes, thankfully frustrating days are balanced out with smooth ones. :) Otherwise I'd go crazy.