How do you Write?

Ok, I’ll admit it…I’m a procrastinator when it comes to writing. I need to put off until the deadline or I can’t seem to function as well. One of the main ways I procrastinate is by talking with my writer-buds online. We have all sorts of discussions, mostly centered around writing and publishing. The other day the question was raised not about what we write, but how we actually write.
As in ‘how did we write physically´or what little quirks and habits we all had.
So I asked a few to come over here and talk today about how they wrote.
Kay Springsteen, co-author of Something Like a Lady, and A Lot Like a Lady, is definitely detail-oriented. (She’s also a plotter, but more on that later). J.L. Salter is a lot like me, and prefers to procrastinate with facebook until late in the day. Here’s what the two had to say:
 Kay:
The Argiope aurantia that inhabit my yard build these really cool webs that look like stick white zippers. They span about 2-3 feet in some places, usually between my boxwood and azalea bushes, sometimes between a pair of roses. Oh, did I mention Argiope aurantia are spiders? Beautiful creatures, really. About the size of an old-fashioned half-dollar when fully grown, they've been known, in my yard anyway, to capture and consume large moths and painted lady butterflies. These spiders are known by many different common names - black and yellow garden spider, corn spider, and my favorite nickname, the writer spider. When I start to see them in spring, they're no more than the size of a pencil eraser but they still manage to build these elaborate webs, so I know they're around. 

And when I know they're around, I feel the pull to write even more strongly than normal. Are they whispering to me like muses? Inspiring? Intriguing because of their web? Or do I feel an affinity because of their nickname? I have no idea, but the words seem to flow when the writer spiders reside in my yard. 

Of course, in order to make optimum use of these little helpers, my workspace has to be optimized. Bottled water - Deer Park or Nestle are favorites. Lots of bottles lined up within reach. A bag of something crunchy nearby - pretzel sticks, some corn chex (dry), or some dry chow mein noodles - is a must. A package of Chips Ahoy must be hand for that sweet tooth time when I need to ponder a romantic scene (of course if it's too handy, my dog, Cammie brings me toys in hope of exchanging one ratty chewed up toy for a cookie, so they must also be out of sight).

   But when the mood to write hits at the same time my brain HEARS that music, magic happens and I write scenes packed with emotion (all kinds) that even I don't believe came from me when I re-read them. And when THAT particular magic happens while the Argiope aurantia are in my yard... it can be like an explosion.

The TV is playing in the background and I see the picture, but I don't hear it. This is mostly because it's my connection with the outside world - if something happens, I want to KNOW. My dogs also love to watch it, so they often settle down better with it on. My daughter's pit bull mix, Dante, who has been staying here for a while, is absolutely in LOVE with Rachel Ray, so we try to make sure he can catch a show or two of hers.

Now I live alone except for my rescued dogs - mixed breeds of assorted sizes and personalities. Loki - a fox terrier/rat terrier/yorkie mix who is middle-aged and agoraphobic sits with me and often seems to be reading the screen - his younger adopted brother Walter must rest his head against my heart - I haven't determined if he's doing this for the comforting sound or if he just wants to make sure my heart is still beating. The aforementioned Camilla - lab/Staffordshire terrier/heeler mix - will always tell me when she thinks I've been "at it" too long. She'll bring me toys, bits of trash she rescues from the kitchen can if I forget to latch the door beneath the sink, socks, shirts, towels from the laundry. If I'm not paying attention, I might look up and discover these things on my arm, shoulder, head, back. Never by my feet. My feet are the territory of another rescue dog, Angel - border collie/Australian shepherd/something moose-sized mix (at best guess) - a dog of about 100 pounds and wide as a coffee table. She must touch me when she sleeps so she usually curls up on my left foot.

All of these things in the right place at the right time, and I can write for hours and hours. Oh, and most of this happens at the wonderfully witching hours between midnight and 3 a.m. Sometimes during the day I'll set myself up and find myself doing nothing but sitting and staring at a blank screen. When I discovered that the night holds very few interruptions, it became my very best friend.
I absolutely have to start the day with chocolate. A plain Hershey's chocolate bar - full size - and a glass of milk to sharpen my mind and get me motivated. I usually check in at my Farmville Farm to see if anything grew - they really should consider spiders... Then I plug in my headphones. My MP3 player is on the smaller side as far as how much music it holds - 32g with an expansion slot of 64g. It's not filled - not even close, with just about 3000 songs on it - though I do have an odd mix of things from Big Band to 60s rock-n-roll, to classic rock, to metal, to pop, to easy listening, to new age, to country, to classical, to... you must have the picture by now. My specific music tastes are so wide, I am un-categorizable. I HAVE to hear the music to be able to write - sometimes it's there for company, sometimes for inspiration. Sometimes on random the inspiration hits when a song just pops up out of nowhere and the creative juices seem to flow. Sometimes I go looking for a song that has the right feel for a scene I'm writing, or a character's theme song. If I don't "hear" the music, I can't write. And unfortunately, there's plugging it in and turning it on so it plays in my ears... and there's actually HEARING it.


Jeff’s routine is a bit different: (His newest release hit the Amazon eshelves this weekend! Check it out!) 
Calle invited colleagues to share how they write. 
Boy, I can give y’all an earful.
But a short background first:  While working full-time, I went to bed about 9:30 p.m., rose at 5:25 a.m. and was in my office by 7. Worked all day – public library administration – went home, took a nap, and watched TV ‘til 9:30, when I went to bed.
When I retired, I set down a firm [as if] rule of the household:  my mornings are ‘mine to write’ and I won’t be disturbed.   You already know where this is heading. 
 Anyway, surprisingly, my schedule morphed in a dramatic 3 hour slide — now I was going to bed after midnight and not rising ‘til about 8:30 a.m.  So that precious morning period which I so zealously guarded was shortened by 3 hours even before I got started!
Then, in Jan. 2009, I joined Facebook.  Lordy, how did I ever survive before my daily fix of half-a-dozen log-ons of an hour apiece?  And blogging … and e-mail.
Well, in keeping with my credo of protected mornings, I refused to schedule ANYthing before 1 p.m.  So, now, all my medical appointments (and my Mom’s) are at 1, my Mom’s weekly trip to the grocery at 1, my Mom’s water exercise at the Y (and my own exercise sessions) at 1.  You get the picture:  All my afternoons are cluttered, beginning at 1 p.m.
You can see where I’m going:  those precious creative morning sessions got shaved by 3 hours on the front end, delayed by innumerable FB posts and blogs, and crowded on the back end by having to get ready for all those 1 p.m. activities.  [Invariably, I’ll be ready to jump on some ‘writing’ thing, but will look at the time and see I have only 30 or 45 minutes remaining until I have to get ready for my 1 o’clock.]
Where am I heading?  My mornings have been delayed and squandered … and pinched by early afternoon appointments.  My afternoons have been cluttered by appointments and my MUCH-needed daily nap.  By the time I wake up fully (from nap) and locate the supper plans, it’s time for a shower.  Then – during a period when I used to be already asleep – I finally have about two hours to WRITE. After I check Facebook, of course.(Jeff Salter)
Jeff and I have lots of conversations on facebook, I can say that for sure! (I am a BIG facebook procrastinator!) Now that Kay and Jeff have shared their habits, I should probably tell you a bit about mine… First, when I handwrite—about a quarter of my total writing time—it must be with black ink. Definitely not blue, or pink, or any other such nonsense. And my notebook paper has to have blue lines. Period. When I type—which I do if it’s not storming, as my home office is actually on my glassed in front porch—I must have the screen—a 27incher—set to 220%. That way I can see everything without straining my eyes. I also usually have some kind of music going. I tend to make a playlist per book, and will play those songs over and over until the book is finished. For the latest book, Hunting (6/30/13), I’ve found that the German bands such as Preluders and Queensberry seem to fit the book best. For the last PAVAD book, Second Chances, I used a lot of country songs that fit Dan and Ed the  best. Like Kay, I am surrounded by canine office assistants. I have three—a big old mutt (11 yrs) with suspected St. Bernard ancestry, and two female Border collies. They surround me when I’m working to the point where I can’t move an inch in my chair without rolling over some various dog part. Also like Kay, I write best between 11pm and 3am and that’s when we usually run into each other online!
 Unlike Kay, the thought of spiders staring at me while I write kind of freaks me out—instead, I have what I suspect is a family? of bats living in my gutters right now. And since I’m on the porch, they can see me!
Bats don’t freak me out. At all. They’ve not been at my house very long, but maybe I will begin to find them inspiring? Maybe they will help me write about—oh, I don’t know, something like vampires, perhaps?

So, if you are writers, how do you do it? With spiders? Facebook? Or vampires----I mean bats! watching over your shoulder?