On a Roll…The Words Are Pouring Forth

It’s funny how much writing I’ve done today.  I laugh only because I am writing a little bit of everything.  I have a solid outline that is my backbone, so I find myself writing a little bit here and a little bit there.  I suppose that after a while, I’ll have everything done and none of it will have been done chronologically.

Is there any harm in this?  I’m going to say no.  

While it’s true that I eventually have to transfer all of these random pieces into the computer in some semblance of order, I’ll consider that part of the editing process.  Indeed, I think that this will allow me to tighten up certain areas because I’ll throw some of it out and add new material into it as I go along.

Again, this is all part of the process.  My process.  As long as it’s working, why would I change anything? (That’s rhetorical…there are tons of things I could change about this nonsensical process of mine…I’m just not going to do it!)

This Isn’t Procrastination–This Is The Writing Process!

As it turns out, all of the distraction had a positive effect on the book today.  All of a sudden, as soon as I opened my pink notebook and grabbed my pink pen, the words started flowing forth in a torrent of pink ink.  

I really think that there is something different that comes with writing nonfiction as opposed to fiction.  I was discussing this with an author friend of mine today.  He didn’t understand what I was saying when I said that this book is harder than writing a novel, and then I drew the comparison of trying to write a 250+ page essay or research report.  That’s essentially what I’m doing.  And then he understood.

Oddly, though, I think that taking time to work on fictional pieces and writing articles and working on my blog and posting to Twitter have all helped.  There is a subtle shift from fiction to Twitter to my blog to articles to the nonfiction book, and so doing those things together allow my brain to shift gears from fiction to nonfiction.

This isn’t procrastination–this is the writing process!