Writing Process Experimentation
This week (Monday through Friday), I wrote approximately 14,000 words on Shock Loss. That’s almost double my output on an average writing week. And so far, it seems to be good, usable text that will actually make it to the final draft. (I hope.) This came as a part of some experimentation in my writing process.
Because my experiment has lasted only one week and I have not yet gone through the entire writing process from outline to publication, I can’t say anything definitive about long-term results. I don’t feel comfortable sharing all the details yet either. I’m still working them out. But so far my results are positive enough for me to continue the experiment and blog about some of what I learn.
Many of the changes I implemented are practical, common sense stuff, but some of what I attempted this week totally changed the way I approach book planning and writing.
My writing process from start to finish.
Why did I decide to experiment? After going so long between Southern Fraud Thrillers, I wanted to write efficiently and write well. And to be honest, my writing process could use some refinement. I love drafting, but I always seemed to end up with an enormous number of rewrites, which means a lot of cut text, which means a lot of wasted time.
Okay, it’s not all wasted time. I’ve used cut scenes from one book in another book. Still, when I look at the amount of work that goes into one book, I write and the cut a lot more text than I feel I should.
My end goals are to
Develop an Even, Maintainable Pace. I’d like to write at a pace that is neither so slow that the book never gets done nor so intense that I burn out.
Keep a flexible schedule. I used to try to schedule out my time, but that never works for my lifestyle.
Have focused writing time. When I do sit down to write, I want to write as efficiently as possible. That means better planning. More on that later.
Minimize the number and intensity of rewrites. This is the biggie. I’d like to improve my early drafts so that I don’t spend so much time slaving over rewrites.
Here are some of the practical steps I implemented this week. These tips can apply to tasks other than book writing:
Turn off Alerts/Ringers. This is every time-management guru’s first tip, but I never turned off my phone. I did so this week, and it made a difference.
Turn on a Timer. I tried the Pomodoro method (25 minutes of work followed by a 5 minute break). I didn’t think it would work, but it was surprisingly effective.
Track progress. Bloggers talk about this all the time too, and I never did it. I made a spreadsheet that details the number of words per 25 minute writing session. Seeing numerical results motivated me to
Plan for writing blocks, not daily schedules. I set up two one-hour writing blocks per day, but not together. I took breaks between writing.
Do something completely unrelated to do between writing blocks. I like to do some physical activity–head to the barn for an hour, take a walk, clean something–between writing sessions. It gives my fingers a break and also provides time to “marinate” on the book
After this week, I’m excited about writing again, and I even came up with new ideas for my next series.
I’ll keep tracking next week and report back.
The post Writing Process Experimentation appeared first on Becton Literary.
