Good grief, it takes me a long time to get into the flow of writing. I used to blame it on my sporadic writing schedule, but I’ve been writing pretty regularly for a while now and I still can’t just jump into it. I have to warm up for a while and then slooowwwwwlly I get into a flow. Once I get into it I can go as long as time permits, with a few dud days here and there. I was discussing this with a certain ambassador at our regional conference. First, he laughed and made fun of me (in a warm, ambassador-y kind of way). Then he said most of his writing is in spurts of a few minutes, whenever he has time to spare. Parenthood and teaching conditioned him to work this way. I’ve got the teaching and the parenthood, but I don’t have the ability to work in short surges. Oh, well.
How do you work??
I just received a new computer (!!!), so there should be more pictures and video in the near future.
Look what Nathan Bransford just did. Amazing.
I want to go to Peru! Over the next six weeks I’ll be in Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, and Colorado. I might not want to go anywhere after that.
Jen Robinson made a pretty great list of series’ featuring adventurous girls over at Booklights.
The Vermont College of Fine Arts has added a children’s literature section to their Hunger Mountain journal with the likes of Sara Zarr and Susan Patron.
What happens after your book is acquired? Check out the new blog by someone in a publishing house’s sales department- Pimp My Novel.
Everyone is twittering. The Shrinking Violets made a long list of publishing pros last month, and now, even the Pigeon.
I don’t know why I’m blogging. I finally have a copy of When You Reach Me to read!
Let me know about your process!
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July 14, 2009 at 7:55 pm
macrush53
It took me until about 3:30 PM today to get to the task of revising what I want my writing group to read and respond to this next Monday. I really like to get into the flow upon waking. Grab some coffee and start the day writing. But it is a challenge.
I also seem to work better with a deadline. I think, oh it is summer and I will get sooo much rewritten. Ha!
July 14, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Kjersten
Woah, this is a particularly distracting list of fun links, Kim. Thanks for the fun!
I usually take a bit of time to get into my work too, Kim. But, once I’m immersed I work hard and intensely; I’m an extremely focused artist while I’m working. So much so that it’s hard for me to switch gears when I need to finish up for the day/week/whatever. If I’m working at night I have a hard time forcing myself to stop to go to sleep when I need to. I also usually don’t notice I am in immersion mode until someone tries to interrupt me whereupon I find myself distracted, spacey and preoccupied. I’m the sort of person that tends to work without coming up for air. But that makes it all sound so stuffy while it actually feels light: kind of like meditation.
July 14, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Jolie
I love that you asked the ambassador! Whoop.
Girl…you know that writing is just like exercise…the hardest part is getting started. I so, so, so struggle in the same way. Actually, it’s easier for me to get to the gym!
July 15, 2009 at 7:04 am
Jen Robinson
Thanks for linking to my Booklights post. As for working, I can putter around in short bursts, but if I need to write anything (like a newsletter that I write for work every months, my Booklights posts, etc.), I have to have quiet, and turn off email for a couple of hours.
Loved that you asked the Ambassador the question!
July 15, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Kim
Kjersten, that sounds so familiar. It takes me ages to get there, but once I am there it’s like my own little bubble of production. The longer I get to write, the longer it takes for me to sort of come back to the real world.
Thanks for the responses! I’m fascinated by all of the different approaches to creativity.