Make the Most of Your Regular Writing Habit

Over the years, my pics of messy drafts have been some of my most popular posts. The process is emotional, and I know many of us wonder, is it easier for everybody else? Am I just not that talented? Should I give up?

My answer is an adamant NO! One of the reasons I think I’m a good writing coach is that my first drafts stink. They’re very rough and it takes me a while to figure out what I’m trying to say. My saving grace is that I love the process. I didn’t feel that way in the beginning, but over time I’ve found solace and security coming back to my pages day after day. It relaxes me. No matter what else is going on, I can grab a notebook or a draft of a story and just write.

Therefore I wanted to pull back the curtain and share what’s made my process so predictable. With pictures.

I start with an outline, which is basically a list of ideas. This works for fiction and nonfiction. It’s either a list of concepts I know my nonfiction readers will find useful, or a list of scenes and events that are turning points in the plot. This outline changes quite a bit when I write out the chapters themselves. I will move things around as I get deeper into the book and frankly, get to know it better. However having that rough outline shows me that I’m making progress. As I advance on any given chapter I’ll mark it with a letter in the original outline.

Z = Zero: Nothing but the idea.

N = Notes: I’ve collected some phrases, sentences or paragraphs.

D = Draft: Notes are fleshed out and put in order.

M = Middle: The middle stages of the draft as I continue to polish. It can hang out here for a while.

A = Almost: I added this one for my own gratification because the middle stage takes so long.

F = Finished: I’ve done my dirt and it’s time to send it to the real editor.

Even if I have to go over a draft of any given part several times, I still know I’m advancing. It’s getting better.

When I start a draft, basically I just splatter everything on the page, much like Jackson Pollack, with little attention to detail. I’ll write scraps of ideas, images and metaphors that I’ve collected. If I’m writing nonfiction, I’ll pull material from blogs, or ideas I’ve scribbled down at random. When I’m writing fiction, I pull scraps from a blue fiction journal where I keep all the ideas that occur to me while I’m not working. Once I have everything splattered on the page, I’ll start moving paragraphs around, and crossing anything out that clearly doesn’t work.

Once I have everything loosely splattered I get into the middle drafts. This is where most of my writing happens. I have a bunch of loose ideas and then I start to connect them, creating transitions, filling in the parts that need more detail, and basically writing better sentences right on top of the sentences I’m not as pleased with.

So much of getting through the “messy middle” phase is developing easy and predictable habits. I’ll admitt, I print my drafts because it makes it so much easier to digest. However, I’ve created a habit that limits the amount of paper I use. Every time I finish a batch of 20 pages or so, I march down to visit my friend Sandra in the paper store, and she prints everything out for me. I recycle the pages with her as well. It fills my process with positive juju and supports small business.

Certain “middle drafts” I’ve worked with have taken me long enough that I created an “almost” phase. I know I’m at the “almost” phase when I’m no longer rewriting blocks of text and I’m just polishing words here and there. Some people refer to this as the copy edit. Basically it means I’ve done my best, and it's almost time for the proofreader to take over. It expresses what I want to express and it’s time to let go. For some people it might be tempting to keep on perfecting the work forever, but after a certain point, most edits are subjective anyway.

You’ll gain confidence as a writer not by obsessing over a certain passage for eternity, but rather by finishing, publishing, learning and moving forward with the next big project. You process may differ than mine, but once you find a writing habit that works for you, you become a writer for life.