IWSG #9 ~ My thoughts on "writing"

It's the first Wednesday of October, and therefore it's time to post for the IWSG. Today is a special occasion for a couple of reasons:

1. We are celebrating 2 years of the IWSG website!
2. Many participants are posting entries for the IWSG anthology.

Here are the details:

The purpose of the book is to assist other writers on the journey, so we are looking for tips and instructions in the areas of writing, publishing, and marketing. It can be inspirational in nature as long as you provide a solid benefit. We’ve already received a lot of great entries–mostly in the area of writing–so looking for some good tips on publishing and marketing. Be sure to state which category, add a one line by-line, and permission for us to use it in the book.

Once you have posted on October 1, go to this page at the IWSG site and enter your link - http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-guide-to-publishing-and-beyond.html The deadline for submissions is October 2.

Now, I hear that many entries have already been submitted which focus on writing, rather than marketing or publishing. Unfortunately I can't really give any "advice" on the latter 2, since I haven't published anything except a little poem and a little flash fiction piece. But it occurred to me that I have actually published a "full length work" ... of music. So I thought I could write about that.

I did submit a piece about that via email, as it was slightly over 300 words. But in case it's not what they're seeking, I thought I'd just quickly blurgh out something about writing, as an alternate option. ;) So here it is:

Title: The "Creation" Stage
Topic: Writing
Bio: Trisha writes, reads, draws, blogs (at WORD+STUFF), sings, travels, and sometimes does other stuff too.
Permission: yes, use it!

When talking about "writing", some may be talking about the whole process from initial lightning strike idea to completing that final polishing edit. But for me, the actual "writing" part is the initial "blurgh" where you spew out words and end up with a draft. A very, very rough draft.

In recent times I've become something of a plotter, I'll admit, but I'm still a pantser at heart. I may get an idea, and then I may or may not sit down and jot down a few notes. If I don't jot down notes, it's because I'm getting straight to the writing part. Notes do tend to help me keep the flow going. They also help me to not go too wildly off track. But they have never been necessary, not for me.

I am pretty sure I've never suffered from writer's block. At least not for any amount of time longer than five or ten minutes. This is because I have a special knack for knowing that what I'm writing is probably absolute crap, but not caring.

I start to care later, when it's revision time. And as evidenced in recent times, I can sometimes really struggle during revisions. Not always, but sometimes. For me, though, actually writing is just the easiest thing in the world.

The advice I always give is to "just write". We've all heard that before, but it's just so simple and so true. And it always works for me. When starting a new story, or continuing an unfinished one, don't worry about whether it's crap or not. Just write. Because at least when you're done, you'll have something to work on, instead of just a blank screen.

-283 words