writing process – Becky Levine

Last week, I mentioned that I’m remembering something all over again–sometimes, the writing process is whatever is working. Today, I want to talk a little more about that.

First, a picture of my writing space this morning, just because it makes me happy.

Cozy, yes?

So…process. When I was freelancing from home and working part-time, I tried to fit writing time into most, if not all, my days. Frankly, as I shifted from working in my own office to showing up at someone else’s work space, that got harder to do. Remember the kids who the preschool/elementary teachers used to describe as maybe not so good at transition? Yeah. That would be me. It’s not that I don’t like transition; it’s that I like/need/want to take a lot of time over it. I don’t zoom well from one thing to another, which means I never zoomed well from the part-time work out and about to the writing work tucked in back at home. I would need a snack, a bit of reading time, some cuddling with the cat. Which all added up to minutes not writing, and all of a sudden the clock would have jumped forward to some other piece of life that needed to get done.

Nevertheless, I did write, i did make progress, I did get those picture books written and many-times revised. And I got started on this latest MG idea. So when I went back to work full-time, something I really wanted to do and felt ready to do–I was a bit worried/stressed about keeping the writing going. I started putting more pressure than I was happy with on getting to the computer in the evening after work–after a grocery store run, after a yoga class, after a catch-up with a friend.

You think I don’t do well with transition? Try me with self-pressure!

A while back, I read this post by Nathan Bransford, in which he says he doesn’t write every day, and I (okay, “you”) don’t have to either. I remember thinking at the time that, yes, that’s good, that’s nice to hear, but, really….I still need to TRY. And then, more recently, I was at a critique-group meeting, where my crit partners had just read the second set of two or three scenes I’d sent them, and one crit partner said, “I want you to be thinking about what your process is. Because whatever you’re doing is obviously working.”

Um…I was pretty much writing on weekends.

From Nathan’s post: “I’m not a morning person, so I can’t wake up early to write in the mornings. And after a long day’s work, I’m usually too mentally exhausted to write. So I get my writing done on weekends.”

Now I will admit that I am still not QUITE comfortable with the fact that I’m not touching my story every day. I still hear that little “should” voice every now and then telling me how much more I’ll be connected to the characters, to their problems, even if I only sit down for 30 minutes every night. I come to most weekends knowing that this is the writing time, this is when I’m going to/supposed to get those pages done, and that is its own version of self-pressure, right?

But it seems like, when I have that space and time, when I can relax into my morning, get a few things done, then open up the computer, check out where I was at the last session and where I think I am going next…the words come. And if the feedback from my critique partners, some of whom have been reading my writing for going on 18+ years, is any indication, they’re coming pretty well.

So, is this my process? For the past months, yes. For today, yes. Beyond that, I have pretty much given up trying to decide.

What’s working for you right now? Is it the same process you’ve always used, or have you (or life) changed things up recently? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m working on the second draft of my historical YA. Last week, I passed the 50-page mark and did a little dance of joy. Partially because of the page count, but in a big way, because the writing of that week’s scenes had gone so well. As in fast. With the words pouring out.

Yeah, like a first draft.

It’s the second draft, so maybe you’re thinking you should be asking me this: But aren’t you revising? Well, yes. And, no.

Back here, when I finished Draft 1, I talked about the big discovery of that draft-that I had two stories going, not one. With, very possibly, two different heroes. In other words, two books.

So, yes, in a way, I’m revising–I am working with a seriously different plot. My hero’s goal has become much more sharply defined. (Um, maybe because she’s not as confused as I was during the whole last draft?!) So, story? Yes, that’s in the revision stage.

Scenes? Not so much. Yes, my plot has my hero going to some of the same places, meeting the same people, having similar arguments as she did before. But the focus/angle/slant/WHATEVER of these scenes-the why she’s there and the where she needs to go after–that’s all different. So different that I’m not opening up a single original scene to make changes in. I’m writing new.

Could I beat myself up about this? Oh, yeah, I so could. I could tell myself that I should have written that first-first draft ten times as fast. I could tell myself that I still haven’t done reasearch to the point I thought I needed to, to make myself happy writing this draft. I could tell myself that I didn’t learn a thing about who my hero was the first time through; I only learned about who she wasn’t. I could look at the calendar and beat myself up for how soon this draft isn’t going to be done. I could do all that, if I let myself get sucked into the idea that there is one way to write a book, even just one way for a particular writer to write a book.

Which, of course, there isn’t.

So, I’m diving back into scenes this week, and I’m going to write my somewhere-in-the-middle-of-a-first-and-second-draft version of story. And you know what else I’m going to do? I’m going to enjoy the ride.

Here’s to you and whatever your writing process may be…this week! 🙂

Tag: writing process

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What Writing Process? Or…When Your Second Draft Feels More Like a First