I just completed a Q&A, and I was so stumped by this question for the longest time:
How do you approach the blank page? What is your process?
It stumped me because I don't HAVE a process. I don't WORRY about the blank page. I just....think....and then I write. So this is what I said:
There’s nothing magic about it – no ritual, not even a set time every day. I have two teenage girls and our life is busy and chaotic, so I write whenever I can. Some days, that means six hours in front of the computer. Other days, it means scribbling a sentence on a piece of crumpled paper in my purse. I try to keep my mind open all the time to my story – to let things in. That way, when I approach the blank page I have something to say.
2 comments:
Thank you for this entry. I have a sister with a Master's degree in English Lit, herself an excellent writer (yet she doesn't write). She once told me, "If you want to be a writer you need to write every day, for 2-4 hours. You need a solid routine from which you will never deviate." It was so discouraging to me, for some reason. As if there was one mold which I could never fit. Thank you for reminding me that being a writer is how I define it.
You're welcome, Stark Raving Zen. And you're right. No wonder your sister doesn't write! I wouldn't either, if it were so rule-bound.
Post a Comment