What Works, What Might Work, and What Doesn't Work

What Always Works (for Me)

Outlining novels [1]
Writing first thing [2]

 
What Has Worked (for Me), And Might Need to Be in the First List

Brainstorming short stories
Also writing (some) on weekends, not just weekdays, during a project

 
What Used to Work (for Me), But Might Not Work Any Longer (for Me)

Tracking new words daily [3]

 
What Doesn’t Work (for Me)

The opposite of the stuff on the first list (e.g., *not* writing first thing)

 
What made me think of making these lists was realizing that I had been doing a lot of experimenting with my writing process over the past few years. And maybe it was time to stop and take stock. See what has worked, and what hasn’t, so I can do more of the former and less of the latter. And record it all for future reference.
 
I decided not to get too nuts-and-bolts in my lists. For example, I didn’t add “Writing in The Journal” or “Writing at my desk” or even “Listening to albums on Rhapsody while writing (instead of stations on Pandora)” to the What Always Works (for Me) list, because those are more preferences than requirements. They aren’t lessons I’ve learned about myself and how I do my best work.
 
I don’t think my writing process has stopped evolving, of course, and I’m sure I’ll do more experiments in the future. Right now, though, I need to focus on what I know works.
 
-David
 
Notes:
 
[1] I’ve talked before about how I outline, including how even though I don’t start writing a novel until I have an outline I like *and* how the outline continues to evolve *during* the actual writing.
 
[2] “First thing” doesn’t mean “as soon as I get up”. Instead, it’s the first “real work” I do on a normal weekday (after breakfast, workout and shower, before checking email/FB/anything else).
 
[3] Key word there is “daily”. Because I like to know, I’ll still be tracking new words on a weekly basis.
 
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Writing is Work"Done Enough"Talking to Myself Blindly in the DarkSigils Update and Existential Artist Personality Bullsh*tAnother Reason I Like How I Outline My Novels