In this post, I want to share a bit about my writing process. I've been writing for at least 25 years, but except for the last year, my writing was limited to Saturday and Sunday mornings. I was too busy with work during the week, and usually too tired to begin writing in the evenings (though I could occasionally edit stuff I'd already written).
When I retired at the end of 2013, I was convinced that writing would become my full-time job. I've found myself much busier with various aspects of writing, including preparing this blog, promoting my books, and devoting time to critiquing the work of fellow writers in a critique group.
But I've found it difficult to work on my Brad Frame novels every day (or at least five days a week). I was concerned that I was procrastinating, but after a bit of analysis I concluded that "putting words on paper" or, in my case, on the computer screen, is only part of writing process.
Before retirement, although I only "wrote" two mornings a week, I spent a considerable part of the rest of the week (during my commute, while out running errands, as I lay in bed at night, etc.) thinking about what I wanted to put on the page: the name of a new character I planned to introduce, resolving a plot issue, digesting the critique I'd gotten in my writers' group, thinking through an upcoming dialogue scene, or how to conclude a chapter in a suspenseful way that would guarantee the reader would turn the page.
I now find that while I have more flexibility in when I write, that I'm still spending the same kind of time addressing those exact same questions. Once I've resolved the questions in my mind, I become much more productive in getting words on the page.
So don't look for four new Brad Frame mysteries each year, you know, now that I'm "retired." But do count on me trying to maintain the quality of my craft, as I keep striving to take it to the next level.
Any other writers want to weigh in on their writing process? By all means, join the conversation.
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