Writing My Way

Scrivener for Writers

I really admire writers who are in the now, and using Scrivener. I gave it a look, but decided I was an old dog, and not up to learning any new tricks. It appears to be a terrific program. Anything that helps a writer do what many find, including me, most difficult, organization. It is a word processing program with an outline feature that many authors rave about. It also reportedly offers templates for different types of writing.

Keeping track of the action - chapter and page

My, Most Old Fashioned Way

So why am I blogging about something I don’t use? I thought it might be interesting to some of my Younger followers to see how this old guy does it. My way works, and makes sense to me, but it is a long, long, way from new age.

This notebook keeps track of my day to day writing

Why?

The point? There are many ways to write, it is the final product, the story, not the way one reaches it that is important.

References used for my nonfiction

Every Blog Post Needs a Humorous Analogy

I remember hearing a story, years ago, about a professional golfer who was upset with his caddy because he put his bosses clubs into his bag in order. The pro wanted them stuck in randomly, said it gave him time to think about the next shot as he rummaged through the clubs looking for the one he wanted. Maybe that’s why I use my way, I like rifling through my multiple notebooks looking for the one I need.

Random notes to keep track of, well, stuff

And On That Note

Writing, for me, is a seven step process

ü Planning the story and characters

ü Writing the first draft, quickly with not too much backtracking

ü Checking and polishing the first draft for gaps, of people, or places and for obvious mistakes – I call this shaping the story, checking and modifying back story to make sure it agrees with the narrative of the main story.

ü The hated revision, or in my case revisions – go through the book page by page, rewriting cumbersome or odd sounding sentences. I also check voice here and rewrite, were needed, passive voice

ü Self-editing, a take your time, and do it write process. I use an extra grammar editing program here. I will talk more about it in another post. The program is called Grammarly and suggests changes, some I make, others I do not.

ü Proofreading, I self-publish and order two books for this step, one for myself and one for a reader, usually my wife. They are generally passed on, along with a different color of ink to additional readers.

ü Finally polishing it all up, getting it ready to sell, the old, make it the best it can be here.  If you have the money, and I recommend it if you do, this is also the time to send it to a professional editor.

There you have it – write on! Oh, and do not use too many exclamation points.

When the work gets to be too much or I am lost as to what comes next
I head out to one of my favorite places, only a few minutes away and a
wonderful place to contemplate life and writing.