Writing – Page 2 – Karen Writes More Than Karen Crochets

I am a passionate writer. That doesn’t mean that I write passionate stories, but rather I write passionately. And what that means is I treat writing like a job. True, it is a job I love doing and true, I would rather write than work at (something)Mart. Passion is the critical element in writing.

If I write something bad, which happens more often than I care to think about, I have options: I can delete it, I can put in that “terrible idea” file and maybe use it at a later time, or I can leave it on my desktop to percolate, marinate, season, age like fine wine or sharp cheese. Maybe after a few days, I will find it is not such a terrible idea after all.

For me writing often reflects the mood I am in at that particular moment. Like everyone, I have days that are dark and gloomy as the weather during a winter storm or as bright and sunny as the first of spring. So, if I am gloomy today and I am trying to write a happy scene, it will not work very well. I wait until the sun comes out, then I write something happy. That’s not to say that I won’t write on that gloomy day. I simply write a gloomy scene or spend time writing a reflective journal post.

I have learned recently that holding myself back while writing will never result in good writing. What I will achieve is superficial and one dimensional. To have passion in my writing, I have to get emotionally involved with my characters or my topic and not worry about what the neighbors think. I have to stop writing what others want to read, because whatever I write will appeal to only one person in a thousand. The other 999 will not be interested, anyway.

Now, for the advice portion of this post:

Strive to be a passionate writer. Dig deep and find the passion that is there, anyway.
Don’t write for an individual, either real or imagined. Find what’s in that deepest part of your heart and write about it.
Don’t let a day go by without writing something, be it a journal entry, or a chapter in a novel that will later get deleted. Write something. Every day.
Write about the things inside. If it is emotional to you, it will be emotional to someone else.
Use your favorite method to write, whether it is a #2 pencil and a scrap of paper rummaged from the trash pile or (my personal favorite) a keyboard. I prefer the keyboard because I type fast and fairly accurately, so I can get these random ideas down more quickly. Also, I have began audio recordings while driving in my car or making breakfast.
Write using your own voice. It makes you unique. In that way, you will stand out from the crowd. You’ve heard it before. There is only one you, so don’t try to be someone else.
Read something every day. Reading is an excellent method for improving your own writing because you are learning about sentence structure, plot lines, information that can be used in a story or article at a later day. Much of what you are learning is on a subliminal, but reading is beneficial to every writer.

Writing 500 words a day doesn’t take that long to do. Stephen King recommends writing 1000 words a day, although he writes 2000 a day. But, I am no Stephen King nor am I trying to be him. Most days, I write more than 500 words. All I had to do was to turn off the TV (or Netflix or Amazon) and write. I put down my computer games and then write. I make time for writing. I don’t wait for inspiration. I start writing and then inspiration just happens.

I write passionately.

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100112-Selectric-Element — IBM Selectric Ball

To write something a person has to put pen to paper or, in my case, fingers to keyboard.

I type fast, having learned how to keyboard while in high school. At that time, I never dreamed I would own a computer. My big dream was an IBM Selectric–an electric typewriter with a ball instead of keys that got jammed together when I typed too fast. After years of practice, I can keyboard almost as fast as I think. Definitely as fast as I can talk.

The ability to type rapidly enables me to get my thoughts in front of me without losing them as new thoughts are processed.

I set aside time to write on my calendar.

By scheduling my time, I know I am going to sit down in front of the keyboard and create something. That doesn’t mean I sit down to absolutely no idea of what to write. I always have a general idea of which direction I am going. I think about my stories or blog articles a lot before I actually show up at the keyboard. I make notes in my iPhone if something particularly meaty occurs to me.

I don’t always type something meaningful or enlightening. Often, it is just weird ramblings or several paragraphs in my novel that I can later delete.

The Delete Key

The main key to my writing is my delete key. I know some writers disagree with that and treat every word they write as if they were chiseled onto a stone table. For a while, I did, too. I saved every word instead of deleting until I had a folder chock-a-block full of deleted paragraphs, phrases and chapters.

I NEVER went back in to re-read them. Finally, I stopped saving everything and just delete, delete, delete. Eventually, after two years of sitting idle and unopened, I deleted my deleted paragraphs folder.

I love the process of editing what I write. How many times have I ran across something in someone else’s novel I am reading that just screams for an edit? It is almost disappointing to me when what I have written reaches that point where no further editing is necessary. In fact, the way I start writing when I am working on a novel is to read what I wrote the previous two or three days, edit while reading and then, I allow the ideas flow to add new content. By the time I reach the end of the first draft, it is a nearly perfectly edited piece.

Let It Rest

Then, I let it rest for several days or even weeks before reading again and checking for additional edits needed. I have at this point, chucked an entire body of work. I have rearranged chapters, I have eliminated chapters. I have even eliminated characters. Then, I let it rest again. And so forth until I am satisfied with the end product.

Working from an outline tends to limit my creativity.

I normally write on the fly, having a general idea of where I want the story to go. It is like flying an airplane by dead reckoning. I can pinpoint the landing as I get closer to my destination.

Tag: Writing