*stares out window* Seagulls have a lot of sex at this time of year, you know?
Why, yes, I am having trouble figuring out what to say now that I'm trying to blog every day. However did you guess, gentle reader?
Since this is supposed to be a writing journal, I should talk about writing, except that - heh - this blog is it. I haven't worked on my novel in about a week. Mais oui; je suis le suq.
So I'll write about not writing.
I've heard many published authors insist on the importance of writing every day, and I think that's good advice. Given that I've committed to blogging every day, you'd think that would be easy for me.
It isn't. It's totally okay to blog about fluff (bear witness, y'all), but I insist on my serious writing being solid and well-crafted.
"[S]olid and well-crafted" takes me some time to create. I write slowly and can go a week or two without writing anything, because I do a lot of brainstorming before I tap out a scene. Organic writers let the words flow and see what comes out, but that doesn't work for me - I end up staring at the screen in frustration. More importantly, the exercise of writing ceases to be fun when I attempt to write organically. I need to have an outline - at least in my head.
For me, the magic starts bubbling out of the ether when I'm plotting, trouble-shooting and brainstorming a scene. Little bits of dialogue start floating out of my noggin, and then I know the scene is about to come alive. As soon as it does, I can then sit down and thrash the scene out, and I'll not only be pleased with the result when I'm finished, I'll also have an absolute blast while I'm writing.
Different writers write in different ways. I should try to write every day; I consider it an excellent habit. (It's too easy to find reasons not to write today if you give yourself permission to not write some days.) However, I don't think I'm deluding myself by failing to feel guilty about not having this good habit - I believe it's the quality of the work that matters, not the speed at which it is produced.
If you're a writer, what are your writing habits? What works best for you and why?
