What's your process?
It's a question that gets asked a lot, or some version of it . Whenever I've done public readings, during the Q&A session afterwards, someone from the audience will ask, Do you write with a pen or a computer? Do you write in the morning or at night? Do you write at the same place, or can you write anywhere?
I'm almost certain that the people asking these questions are writers. I think they are exhibiting some form of superstition...Maybe if I switch from my laptop to a fountain pen, my writing will improve. Or maybe they are not comfortable inside their own process and are looking switch it up.
Of course I always answer these questions, the particulars of where and when and how, but the overarching answer is that it doesn't really matter. Or maybe a better way to put is that whatever works works. My own quirk or superstition? I have to write at the desk I blogged about in my very first blog post, and it feels in my bones like it would be bad juju to stop, a terrible idea to purchase a shiny new desk. I think this one will be with me for as long as I write, but our quirks and superstitions do evolve. My bestie Susan Perabo told me that when she was first starting out, she had to be dressed for the day to write, not wearing, say, pjs or sweats, but but regular presentable clothing. Also her desk had to be neatened up and perfectly straightened. But she reports that neither of those things is true anymore, and she's just as happy writing while sitting on the couch in sweats with a cat sitting beside her. I used to forbid myself from listening to music while I write but now I do it all the time.
It's reported that famous novelist and story writer John Cheever would get up every morning have his breakfast and coffee, put on his suit and tie like he was headed to an office job, gather his briefcase, and then climb the stairs to the third story of his house, where he would write all day.
Ernest Hemingway wrote standing up. Truman Capote wrote lying down. Hemingway had to have a carpenter build him a special desk that would allow him to type standing up. I wonder what he would think today given how trendy and popular standup desks are now?
According to my buddy Steve Yates, Kent Haruf once told a roomful of journalists that he often wrote with a paper bag over his head, to avoid distractions. I sometimes write with my PC monitor turned off so that I can't self-edit as I write, but I think I'm a little too claustrophobic for a bag over the head!
One of the more unusual things I've heard is from my friend Aaron Gwyn, who told me long ago that he writes his wonderful fiction one sentence at a time, on 3x5 notecards, one sentence per card. I have no idea if he still follows this practice. Flaubert did something similar, writing one sentence at a time on a chalkboard, then transferring it to paper when it seemed perfect to him. I write the opposite way, rushing headlong and letting it be as sloppy as it wants to be, knowing I can fix it later.
So, writers, go ahead and indulge yourself in your own quirks and superstitions, knowing that there's no particular magic in them. The only magic in writing is doing it consistently enough that you pretty quickly get yourself into a flow state when you sit down to write. If a standup desk or a fountain pen makes you comfortable enough to reach that flow state, then go for it! If part of your process feels like it wants to evolve, then let it. Whatever it is that gets our butts in the chair and writing every day...that's what we're chasing.
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