Creating My Process

Image by tomswift46 via Flickr

I'm still relatively new to this whole writing-as-profession thing, and I'm still working out the kinks. I don't have any set time set aside for writing. I am very busy and have the kids at home with me all day. Sometimes I have time in the evening to write, but by then, my brain is usually only operating on half power. Early morning usually works, except that means I have to get to bed early, which rarely happens.

So it'd be nice if I could get a regular time each week to write. Preferably every day, but since each day is a little bit different, it's hard to work it in. Perhaps I can work in a couple of post-lunch hours, a couple days per week.

I do have a pretty good writing process, though, once I do get writing. First I write down everything I want to say, either as a review or another kind of article. Then I go through it a second time, rearranging paragraphs, filling in big holes, making sure all of the parts are there. Then I go through it a third time, making sure it sounds right and I didn't leave anything out. Occasionally I have to read it a fourth time, and once in a blue moon I only have to do it twice. But a pattern has emerged, and it is working for me. But I can't write in 10 minute increments. I need to focus on it for a while.

I need to find time to focus, since my mom brain is always got its antennae up listening for the kids. That's my challenge recently.

2009: A Great and Trying Year

Image by mark78_xp via Flickr

This past year held a lot for me, both bad and good. For the bad, our house has sat unsold all year long. Our savings are dwindling. As usual, I have more dreams and goals than I have time and/or money for. But there was plenty of good this year, too. We've (mostly) stayed healthy, had some great trips, learned a lot, and have gotten to do some exciting things. I also became a real official blogger, first with the local newspaper, then in March for GeekDad.

Writing for GeekDad has made a huge difference in my life. It's been something new to inspire and excite me. It's opened doors and given me opportunities. I hope that will continue if I keep working hard. Writing for GeekDad has been more than all of that, though. I finally feel a sense of purpose. Before I had kids, I had no real tangible sense of purpose. I worked at jobs and did random things, but I wasn't doing much that fed my soul, that made me feel like I had found my calling. Having children made a big difference in that. I always knew that I wanted kids, and when I had my first child at age 28, I was finally doing something that was important to me and that I enjoyed: taking care of a little being (and later two little beings).

I also feel like writing is finally my vocation, or avocation, depending on how you look at it. It's something that I can do. I have so many interests that it's hard to pick just one, but writing can be used for everything, and thus doesn't exclude any subject. So writing is doing a good job feeding most of the rest of my soul. I've always written, to varying degrees, though I'm not usually compelled to write. I just like having written something good. But now that I have a reason to write, someone to hold me acountable, I do it much more. Now, when I write, I feel myself growing as a person. I'm finding my voice, fleshing out my opinions. No wonder people say their 30s are better than their 20s! I'm doing some things for me now. I'm doing things that I'm proud of that lead to other things that I'm proud of. Squee.

Finding Your Voice

Ever since high school I've written things on my own, just for fun and mostly for myself. I always knew I wanted to write, but didn't really have much to say. Or I didn't feel that writing without an audience was terribly useful. Unless you're writing for therapeutic reasons (which I have also done), why write if no one will read it, and perhaps comment on it? I know there are a lot of valid answers to this question, but I hadn't yet found any for me. Until about a year ago. I started writing a blog for the local newspaper. This then led me to write for GeekDad. I haven't looked back. While I have put a lot of work into the GeekDad blog (and some into the newspaper one) over 2009, and haven't gotten paid much, if anything, for that hard work, it has been so personally satisfying that it's all been worth it. Plus the free review copies don't hurt. It has been like a giant unpaid internship, where I can learn, make mistakes, and personally grow without the pressure of it being a real job. I am making friends, making contacts, and having a great time. I can't wait to see where else it will lead.

The whole writing thing... In some ways, writing is easy. Sometimes the words just flow out like water from a faucet. And sometimes it is nearly impossible to come up with anything eloquent or it all sounds like gibberish. I don't always know which one of those I'll get until I start to write, so it is hard to be prolific. The best posts I've written are ones that I didn't spend a lot of time on. The worst ones are also the ones I didn't spend a lot of time on. The rest I put a lot of work into. And so it goes.

I'm learning about my process as it unfolds. Usually, especially with a review or something on which I've taken notes, there are three phases to writing. One, get all the ideas down, preferably in some semblance of order. Two, rearrange, add, subtract, and generally organize the post, making major changes. Three, fine tune it, fixing minor errors and omissions. Once in a while, I have to do a fourth pass, if pass number one was a real mess. And also, once in a while, I get lucky and get away with two passes.

But it all gets easier, the more I write. I'm sure others have experienced the same thing. Unlike some people, I am not compelled to write, but when it's easy, it's a great feeling. When it's hard, it does feel a lot like work. But that happens less and less.

When Do You Get Your Ideas?

Image by Rennett Stowe via Flickr

Is there a special place and time when ideas just come to you? Whether for writing or other creative outlets, or inspiration for how to solve a pesky business problem, or how you'll code your current program... Where are you and what are you doing when ideas and solutions tend to come to you?

I've noticed lately that my ideas come to me when I am in the shower. My mind is on autopilot: shampoo, rinse, wash face, rinse, conditioner, wash rest of me, rinse. So the creative and task-based parts of my mind are free to think of things that I need to get done, or ideas for the next post or project.

Of course, like most people, I don't have a way to write down these ideas while in the shower. I'm not sure a small white board would work. Perhaps something with grease pencil? How does one take notes while in the shower?

So I'm asking all of you out there, my handful of readers, do you have any ideas for how one could take notes while in the shower? Perhaps something to hang up, held up by suction cups? Of course, I'd have to squint while I wrote things down (who showers with their glasses on?), but it'd be better than forgetting the genius idea that I just came up with, or the important thing to grab on the way out the door.