I’ve decided to begin a journal on the blog to chronicle my writing process, to inform folks of my personal pitfalls and achievements. While the writing process itself, and the psychology behind it, is well known, the actual path up the mountain — those bits and pieces that apply to those practicing the craft of writing — are unique to the individual writer. It not only differs from writer to writer, but also from piece to piece, and day to day.
The best way to keep the dreaded B (block) at bay is to understand all the tools available to you as a writer, and to learn your particular writing process. Many books on the craft of writing focus on whole approaches under the assumption that the stated methods and techniques, if followed to a T, can result in a successful manuscript. But I’ve seen none that show how to discover your own process. The book that comes closest to that self-discovery is Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande.
So, in this vein, I hope that some of what I post in this Writing Journal will resonate with other writers, and help them past the myth that the writing process is straight-line point-A to point-B. It’s through sharing our trials and triumphs that communities of like-minded people are formed, and through those communities and shared experiences that we no longer feel alone facing that unscalable wall. Others have scaled it before, and can offer us clues as to where to attach that next crampon.
