“Writing is really very easy. Tap a vein and bleed onto the page. Everything else is just technical.”
Derrick Jensen
Well, not quite, but it still takes discipline and hard work to pen something easy to read.
My writing is often a gut reaction to what I have witnessed or what I have read. I don’t claim to be right. As a matter of fact, I am partial and I don’t ask anybody to agree with me.
I am just voicing what I feel.
I am not a journalist but rather a topical blogger, and I am often politically incorrect because I don’t care for unrealistic bleeding-heart do-gooders.
Once I tackle a subject, I often find inspiration in famous quotes.
Witty sayings make me smile and inspire me.
“Everytime I hear Wagner I feel like invading Poland.” Woody Allen
To me, writing is not an orderly process. I don’t start at the top of the page and keep on writing until reaching the bottom margin.
I first jot random thoughts on a blank page and organize them later.
I rearrange a sentence many times, and word-processing is extremely helpful.
What would I do without “cut and paste”?
I really don’t know how Alexandre Dumas could write novels in longhand and edit them later. I understand that he used a ghostwriter to do the dirty work, but still.
Personally I don’t use one, I am my own (poorly paid) “nègre blanc”.
When in the trance of the creative process, even in your sleep you keep thinking about what you are writing.
It is not unusual for me to wake up in the middle of the night and shuffle to my (always awake) computer to jot down what came over me during my half-conscious state.
I usually write a rough draft in the morning and let it marinate overnight.
The next day I look at it again and edit it extensively.
I then let my concoction incubate for about 3 days (with multiple CPR sessions) before publishing it.
My writing style is often tongue-in-cheek, something written humorously that should not be taken at face value. But there is always some truth behind the humor.
And finally, “the art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe” and writing often allows me to clarify my own disjointed inner thoughts.
Alain
I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done. Steven Wright