Monday, December 21, 2009

Weird Writing Habits?

I've been horribly slow with blogging during the holidays, and will especially be so this week (for obvious reasons). I do have some good news. With my husband being on vacation, I've been promised tons of writing time every day and may finish (if not be really close to finishing) my Nano WIP! It'll be like a second draft, though, because I've been revising (twice over usually) each chapter. I'm proud of myself. Clapping myself on the back as we type (woah, I'm talented).

I have to ask, after realizing I have some weird rituals or habits when I sit down to write, if anyone else does? Or am I just . . . odd? Well, of course I'm odd, but you know what I mean. Some habits of mine include, as evidenced above, revising as I write (in OCD fashion, mind you), not being able to stop a chapter a few lines into a page. I'll either edit it down to fit the previous page, or add more so it's at least 1/3 of the way down (how odd is THAT?) And, of course, I have to either be 1. at my desk with Pandora playing and a snack (usually dark chocolate) or, 2. At my favorite coffee shop with Pandora playing and a latte (I experiment with all different types of coffee drinks, though). These are just some of my habits. Please prove I'm not the only crazy writer out here?

And have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Kwanzaa!! (and a belated Happy Hanukkah !

13 comments:

  1. I have to go put the paci back in baby's face ever 3 minutes. Is that weird? I've also mastered the art of typing while breastfeeding.

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  2. Hah! You are a goddess, I never quite figured out how to do that *bows*

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  3. I cannot chapter as I write. I have to write one lonnnnnnnnnnng book, get it edited as it can get, and then chapter it.

    and I can't just write roughly without editing. On the computer that is. I love to write longhand first really roughly, then type it in.

    I've never had the luxury of going anywhere to write, I've always wanted to do the coffee shop thing. I've learned to do pretty well in the car though, on my spiral while waiting for my daughter to get out of dancing! LOL

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  4. I did longhand once during a lunch break at a writing conference. I thoroughly prefer typing, much faster for me. I do keep a journal and/or digital voice recorder with me to write/record thoughts, though. I love how everyone writes so differently!!

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  5. When I'm really in a pinch there's only one fix: Those gummy sharks that are blue on top and white on bottom. They pulled me through engineering school and now are my crutch for writing.

    I work much much better if I am at a place like a restaurant or coffee shop with random background noise. Writing at home is always difficult.

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  6. I'm apathetic enough that, if I were to allow myself to be neurotic on top of it, I would never get anything done.

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  7. I can write anywhere and tune anything (or anyone?) out. I usually write in my big mamma chair (nay, it's a throne). I write in fits and spurts. I add to a story skeleton as I go along. After writing a chapter or scene, I stop. Before I write more, read what I wrote in the previous session.

    I can't skip scenes or write without knowing where the story's going. I'm a global thinker; I can't see the trees for the forest.

    I don't write everyday, but I miss it when I don't.

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  8. I have to clean, check email, check blogs, check other random internet things before I can do any writing. Then, only after everything seems relatively completed, can I write. I usually have a cup of tea next to me and by this time it's close to midnight. But I've found, the more tired I am, the better I write. It's like my brain shuts down and I'm on auto pilot. The words just spill on out.

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  9. Sarah- Mmm, I remember those candies.

    CM- I hear ya on that one.

    J- I'm a bit of the same, can't write out of order, have to read previous chapter before I continue, etc. Maybe it's an OCD thing?

    L&L- Totally!I do the same thing, check e-mail, all that stuff, before I finally sit down and write. And I believe almost anyone writes better when they should be sleeping instead because the subconscious is way more creative.

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  10. Oooh I hope you finish it because I'm dying to know what happens next. And I edit as I write too!

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  11. Had to add after I read some comments...I'm totally the same way with having to read previous stuff before I start writing. Guess it gets me in the world with the characters. And I can't skip around either. In fact, I've gone back to the beginning right now and am tweaking and editing and dreading the point where I reach where I left off....because there's a hole there. I know what happens later but I can't write it because the canyon in the middle is taunting me!!

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  12. I hear ya, Sharla. This morning I was writing, in a zone, and realized my MC had to ask a really important question. So I write the setup, and BAM, brain fart. Seriously, I STILL can't think of this almighty important questions she's suppose to ask, and guess what? I'm not going to be able to just skip and write ahead, because it could alter everything that happens next. Enter: me banging my head on desk until it comes. Arg!

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  13. You're not crazy, I also have dark chocolate at my disposal at almost all times when I write. Sometimes I run out of space on paper, and I write on napkins or old envelopes, but before I write on those I write on my wrist, I will fill my wrist with ink before I pick up a piece pf paper.

    I also prefer to write into the late hours of the night from like 10pm to 3 or 4am, on school days.

    And plenty else, I think all writers have their own little quirks, they mnake us all unique but similar.

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