How I Write

I'm a plantzer. I plan and then I pantz it up.

Sometimes, I have a story in my mind (or I literally dream of some scenario) and then it feels like cheating, taking down all the dialogues and attempting a first go at description of what I saw in my mind's eye. Other times, it's like pulling teeth - I make an outline, check the chapters are of equal size, write one scene, then the next.

No two books are alike. But the best books are those where I combine the planning and the pantzing, tbh.

It also helps to keep in mind that if you aim to write 1k words per day, then in 20 days you should have 20k words and in 1,5 months aka 50 days you can have 50k words, i.e. a whole first draft of 1 book. That's how I wrote Charm & Mayhem: The Goddess of Fate; and how I'm currently writing Life&Death: The Goddess of Light.

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  • Write anywhere, anytime

    Waiting for a bus and have an idea? Put it into Notes on your phone.

    You have a 5 minutes break at work?  Plot a dialogue and write it down. In shorthand, if you must.

    On the road? If you're not swimming or driving (hopefully not and AND here) aka if you're flying, taking a train, bus, submarine or a trip to the moon - have a paper or laptop or mobile notes ready and write, write, write.

  • Defined Writing Time

     

    I write from 6-9PM on Tuesdays. Mostly. If I don't write, I do something writing related, like build my website. But there needs to be a time I squirrel away from my family and 101 other things when I sit my ass into a chair, behind a laptop and go for it.

    Having said that, you also need to know your best writing times - time during the day you're at your most creative or pensive or alone - use the emotion, use the energy, write what comes when it comes. Oh, you have a job? See point above about writing anywhere, anytime.

  • No Distractions

    We all love to "do research" or check our feed etc etc, BUT when you're writing, you're writing. One thing at a time. If you feel like taking a break, go ahead. And then sit your ass back down into that chair (or go for a walk) and get back to that scene. We want to read your book!

My Tools

My Most Important Writing Tools

Macbook

For Writing and Editing

Duh. A gal needs her hardware.

Then there's the software:

  1. Scrivener - for plotting, planning, writing first drafts, rewriting first drafts, etc.
  2. Googledrive (or is that still hardware?) - for development edits and beta reading;
  3. MS Office Word - for developmental rewrites, rewrites after feedback from betas, rewrites after feedback from editor and final manuscripts

Books

Writing Needs Some Reading

Oh, you thought I was joking? Nope. And I don't read to plagiarise. I read to stretch my imagination. About structure, about gripping first lines, about the pace of dialogue, fab turns of phrase, where to stick how much imagery, that kind of thing. I read about 200 books a year. You?

Notes on my iPhone

Always Useful

I'm on a coffee break and have a fab idea for a dialogue. Post-its? No. Pen and paper? No. Notebook? No. I whip out a new note on my phone, tippitap it up and when I have more time later, then I flesh it out.

Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it's produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.

Ken Robinson

Principles That Work - For Me

The Most Important Steps To Follow

Write A Lot

1k words per day - that usually works when you have a specific book and a very daunting deadline. In the meantime, I have fun writing short stories. Whether there is or there isn't a charity anthology to stick it into. Did you know it is much more difficult to write a 5k short story than a novel? Yeah, I didn't either.

Read A Lot

To learn hints and tips and turns of phrases and other good stuff AND also to clear my TBR list backlog of 200 books (that doesn't seem to change annually, probably coz I keep buying them) - for 2 summers in a row, I've participated in summer reading challenges various FB groups organise. This summer I read 60 books and about the same still to read until the end of 2022. Anyone else have reading goals on Goodreads?

Pay It Forward

Loved a book? Leave a review - Goodreads + Amazon + rec in NL. While I read, I learn. My fellow indie authors need a hand with someone beta reading their book? I'm there. Currently reading for about 10 fellow indies and loving it. Coz I also learn loads from other betas comments and from how my fellow authors write and bridge gaps and things they think about or question.