In a couple of days, I’ll be leaving for a one week trip. Part personal, part business for a travel article. I’ve pitched an idea to a magazine and they liked it but with the understanding that once on the trip, the article could turn into something different. That’s how the writing goes, sometimes – you just can’t control it if it’s going to be good.
I used to read about authors who would say the ending of their own novel would surprise them and I wondered how could that be? Didn’t they plan it that way? Now, as a writer, I understand.
When I try to control my writing, the words I churn out are bad and contrived. When I just let them flow and take me where they want to, I end up on an interesting journey. It’s only during the editing process do I control which word goes where.
This way of writing has also helped me to write more. Before I’d wait until I had it all sorted in my mind which, by the time I had an ending I would have forgotten the beginning. Or it would take me so long to figure out an ending that I just wouldn’t start writing at all. Not much went down on paper.
By just writing, even short paragraphs or two, my brain keeps working. I call all the bits I don’t use ‘practice.’ Flexing my writing muscle so I don’t forget how to use it.
The idea of perfect first draft went out the door long ago and now I concentrate on just getting the writing done first, and then worrying about how to make it great.
That system makes things not only easier, but a lot more enjoyable.
The Chronicles of Girl at Play began in April 2001 as a way for me to chronicle my leaving a successful corporate position to become a self-employed writer.
