Guilty Secrets

As I need a break from a certain novella writing project - which, in my mind, has highlighted some of my problems as a writer, I thought I'd write about them here.

I'm not a very methodical writer - which makes writing about my "method" very difficult, because I don't really have one, and whatever it is seems to change from project to project.

My approach to writing often seems so messy that really doesn't make sense. I don't tend to plan, just throw words on a page (or the screen, or both, I've even written on my arm) until I have enough of them to start cutting away and shaping a story. I don't even tend to write in a linear fashion. It's a scene here, a fragment there. It's all very frustrating. Until I reach a point where the story appears, or some sort of cohesive theme, and then, well, it gets much easier.

I'm much happier editing a story - even though that can seem at times like chewing used gum.

Sometimes though a story will come full form and all A-Z, and I'll think, hey, that's how it's done. I really wish that would happen more often.