Monthly Archives: January 2015

Often I see authors write blogs and even books on this.  It helps readers to understand the process, giving a little insight into the author’s working progress.  And for fellow writers it is inspiring and encouraging to see how other authors write.

Now if I tell you how I write you might understand totally why my characters are as wacky as they are and why I might need more than one editor or proofreader at my beck and call.  As it is they have their work cut out for them.

You think of writers having these big swatches of time and quiet to create.  And you think of them having tons of alone time to do so….so much so that you worry about them feeling lonely… too much solitude.

I can say without any hesitation or doubt that lots of time, quiet, and alone time are definitely not issues for me.  In fact the opposite is usually quite true.

I sit down to write.  The telephone rings.  I ignore it.  My cell phone rings.  I ignore it.  My text goes off.  I ignore it.  The phone rings again…this time the answering machine plays in the background…”How come you’re not answering your phone?  Call me.”…husband is worried.  So I call him back to reassure him that all is well.

I sit back down to write.  Mark needs me for something.  I get up to help him.  Then its back to writing.  A little while later its time for lunch.  I fix lunch.  Ready to write some more, I sit… ready to write some more.   I fix lunch….wait didn’t I already say that, do that?   I sit back down to write.  Frank and Michael come home.  “What’s to eat?”  I make them lunch.

I sit back down to write.  Finally all is quiet and I can get a little work done, uninterrupted.  I write a sentence.  Maybe two and now the cat needs my attention…more treats and a clean up on aisle 4…(garage)…she’s old, has lots of accidents.

I sit back down to write.  The bell on the washing machine and dryer go off simultaneously…I let it go for awhile or until or before the mildew sets in…then I get up switching the clothes from the wash to the dryer after taking the clothes out of the dryer and putting them in the basket to be folded at a later if ever date…  I sit back down to write; but first a quick look at FB and emails.  Two hours later, I sit back down to write.

Mark, Michael, and Frank want to talk to me.  It doesn’t matter that I’m typing…or that I’m clearly ignoring them…not even smiling at them…they still want to talk to me.   So since I’m not looking they sit across from me and say…’don’t worry…I’ll wait until you’re done.  Or they ask, “Are you listening to me”  Mark doesn’t care…he just keeps on talking and talking and talking and if I don’t pay attention then touches my chin to get me to look at him-reminding me of the days when we did the program and we did the same to him to get his attention.

Or they’re talking to each other.  Sometimes I go to another room…a couple of states away…but they either find me or I can still hear them….

A little while later ….I sit back down to write……….

But now its time to walk….Sonny’s ready…patiently waiting …and can’t wait anymore.  So we – Mark, Sonny, and I walk.

And then I hear “What’s for dinner?”….

I close up the computer…………..to begin again…………..another day…………..

And this is how I write……full of life and love swirling all around me, touching, inspiring, driving me a little crazy, sometimes a lot…loving the process.  Most days I write…sometimes not…………but when I do it’s always an adventure.

Sonny (my golden retriever) and I had a case of the blues today….he’s had some health issues since the week before Thanksgiving…he may have had a slight stroke.  Yesterday he had acupuncture….yep, my dog had needles stuck in him everywhere…And he did really good letting the vet insert them…well with the exception of the ones he tried to eat.

And me… I could list a few reasons for my funk but who wants to hear them?  Not me 🙂

Anyway Mark (my son), Sonny and I went for a walk, taking our usual path.  After walking the back paddock I headed to the highest point on our land for a sit down.  Sonny followed.  The view is gorgeous.  You can see our farm and the other surrounding farms.  Michael (my oldest son) was working the other field with the big tractor…waved as he passed by from afar.   Mark continued walking the path.

Today the sky is showing bright blue again-first time this week, along with abundant sunshine and white puffy clouds.  The temps are in the lower sixties…cool but not cold.

Hard to keep the funk going with all of that beauty around me.  I might have smiled a couple of times… Sonny may have done his happy dance.  Feeling the warmth of the sun I lay on the crunchy brown grass beneath me looking up at all that blue sky, while Sonny dug, ate some dirt, rolled, and then lay next to me.

I heard a car pull up next to me.  Found by the husband … he says I need to get a ‘real’ job.  I laughed…..funk gone………he may have even gotten a kiss…