Writing Process, What Writing Process?

I’ve been writing with the hopes of one day getting published for the last three years. I have written many different drafts and scrapped many more. After my first few completed drafts, I thought I had my writing process down and it was only a matter of putting it into practice regularly. That is not the case.

Through trial and error, I’ve come to something that works for the time being. I find that when I have an idea in my head and a clear storyline, I can get the first draft written quite quickly. 

I am a notorious procrastinator and find that I have to set myself a daily minimum or I won’t get anything done at all. This is something I have managed to keep up for the last half a year and for the moment, that works for me. I know it’s not something that’ll work indefinitely, but for now, I’m sticking with it.

Second, third and so on drafts are a bit of a chore. I still haven’t quite found the best way to do them effectively. After staring at a document for so many hours, I always struggle to spot the little mistakes like missing an s of the end of a plural word or writing if instead of is etc. My current way to avoid that is to handwrite my second draft. It is in no way efficient; it takes forever and my hand starts to hurt pretty early on. I have tiny handwriting so, it uses less paper than printing out an entire draft, but that is the only benefit. There is also a wonderful sense of accomplishment when I manage to stick with it long enough to actually finish the handwritten draft. It’s something I need to figure out as I continue writing. If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!

Many different people offer many different tips on what your writing process should be and how you should draft your works. I frequently find myself reading and trying to copy something that works well for someone that’s not me. I think it’s something that all writer’s need to figure out for themselves, something I’m still figuring out through writing blog posts and continuing to draft. 

I’m sure one day, I’ll figure out what works for me, but until then, I will keep trying and continuing to write.

C🌙