IWSG - Insecure Writer's Support Group for 3rd June 2015 - Looking at writing habits

Anna Nordeman


IWSG - Insecure Writer's Support Group for 3rd June2015

This is my twenty-fourth post for IWSG. 


 

Looking at writing habits: What keeps you writing? What works for you?

I am asking this question because I am soon at the end of my rope. I am not writing at all. I am beginning to think that I simply may not be cut out to become a writer. I may not have what it takes. There are already so many good writers, why should I write and add one more book to the pile of unread books?

'Well, with that attitude you will not even be considered for publishing!' you say.

(Many thanks to Alex J Cavanaugh for creating a forum where such questions are allowed. It is just writer's bloc or insecurity or doubt.)  

I feel caught between the electronic world and the traditional world of paper and pencil. I don't write by hand anymore and I don't feel comfortable clicking things down directly into a word-processor. 

I am beginning to feel obsolete. Doesn't anyone write in longhand anymore? By chance I happened to find a few pages of praise for writing longhand in K.M. Weiland's book: Outlining your novel; Map Your Way to Success.

For more information

K.M. Weiland's arguments (see page 38) for writing longhand in the beginning of the outlining process are that writing longhand:

¤ Discourages the tendency to censor or edit.
¤ Brings writing down to a primal level.
¤ Provides a change of pace.
¤ Frees imagination by allowing sloppiness.
¤ Frees us from distractions.
¤ Allows a critical editing during transcription.
¤ Gives us an instant hard copy.

I think I'll break out my pens and pencils and start writing on paper again!


Best wishes,

Anna

First Commenter:

Alex J. Cavanaugh

Question of the Month - bloghop for June 2015

 




Question of the Month blog hop - June 2015



If your house caught on fire, what's the one thing you'd grab before running out?

It would depend upon who was at home at the time. If it would happen at night on an ordinary weekday, when my daughter is with me, the first thing I would do would be to wake her and tell her to get out of the house, and see that she actually does just that.

Then I would get a blanket or large towel and wrap it around our cat, Matilda, and take her with me as I leave. Cats can fight and claw when they are frightened. They panic. And fire makes them panic and do stupid things like hiding in a closet or running away from you or cutting you with their claws or biting you.  So I would wrap her in a blanket or put her in a carrier (if I have one handy, which I do not have at the moment) to protect me as well as the cat.

What if my daughter, Elisabet, doesn't wake up in time? Then I would carry her out myself.(Thankfully, we live on the ground floor and don't need to worry about hopping out of a sky-scraper.)

If I were alone, I would just take Matilda, the cat, on my way out.

This is a really good question to think about. Maybe I should make a 'ditch-kit' with important documents and priceless photos handy to take with me on my way out. It depends upon how fast things happens. Fire can burn really quickly, so it is imperative to get out of harm's way fast -- really fast. It can be a matter of seconds. 

There may not be time to save any material possessions at all. Which is sad. (I think of all of my antiques, paintings, books, photos and drawings.) But to perish in a fire is worse. If you come out of it alive and unharmed, you have a chance of starting over, even if you have lost your material and sentimental possessions.

Best wishes,

Anna

First Commenter:

Michael G. D'Agostino