May 17, 2023
Emotional State: Stringing it All Together
Writing
I’ve started reading The Artist’s Way, because it’s come up a lot from various authors and I was interested to see what it’s about. One of the first things you do in the book is write morning pages.
Morning pages are three pages every morning where you spew on to the page every thought in your head. The author of the book uses hers to get rid of her grumpy morning mood and talks about purging the petty and the random thoughts so that you’re refreshed. Because I follow the thought that you should start your day with as much positivity as possible, I’m not writing the petty.
I also don’t think of the petty that early in the morning. But I am writing down every thought in my head, even if, like this morning, it was the goodbye scene from M*A*S*H*. What I’m finding in the six days of doing this is I am coming up with solutions. Creative solutions even. Of course, the first two days were about my working space and less about my writing, but a good working environment is key to a good mindset.
Or at least that’s what everyone who knows about these things says.
The past four days, I’ve been working through some stuck hurts, memories, and other issues that have held me back. After I do my writing pages, I meditate and write out some affirmations. At the end, I’m in a better mood and more ready for my day. I don’t know if I’ll do twelve weeks of morning pages or even keep it going, although I’m going to give it my best shot, but since it’s helping, why wouldn’t I?
I’ve also started phase two of my new writing process. Phase I is writing the first draft by hand. I’ve loved this part of the process. It’s messy, my hand gets tired, but I can easily see where I need to add emotional tension (and make a note), more description (another note), and other thoughts I have while I manually count up my words for the day.
Phase 2 is reviewing the story and nailing down the structure and then typing out the second draft. Before this process, I’d use the second draft to tackle larger structural issues. And then spend multiple edits working on the language. Instead, I’m using this first typed draft to focus as much on the language as I can, making is immersive, capturing details, trying to remove the passive language that always sneaks in, while also tackling the structural issues.
And it’s working. Or at least the first two chapters I’ve tackled on my short story for the cozy mystery series feels more polished than draft two of my previous book. But I’m not done because my larger issue is external plot. As someone who writes heavy character-driven stories, sometimes I lose the plot or it’s not included or it doesn’t make sense when my beta readers get the finished draft.
So, now I’m also looking at different plotting methods (currently the “W” method) to see how I can take my character-driven plots and layer on the core story beats on top. This will, hopefully, create yet another stronger second draft that will create less edits overall. Or at least that’s the plan.
Will it work? I have no idea. But with the five projects I’m currently working on (yes, five different stories, characters, worlds & themes), I’ll definitely know by the end of the second novel I tackle what to change, what to get rid of, and how to tighten my stories up even more in the drafting stage.
I feel good about where I’m at and what I’m doing, even if it’s a bit chaotic and messy right now. But that’s the point – I want to feel good, I want to make progress, and that requires change, even if it’s messy and uncomfortable.