THE JOY OF A WRITER

by Kathy Cretsinger

It is very fulfilling to be a writer. It is an extension of your thoughts and your dreams. Words play in your mind all of the time. Even in your dreams, words keep coming. It can be exhausting to have all those words and scenes play around in your head. Your characters become your friends. You dream of exhotic places. Then you have to open your computer and put all of the words on paper. That can be the exhausting part.

For those of us who dream of putting our words on paper and eventually writing a book, we have to plan each day. Honestly, you don\’t sit down at the computer and the words fly out. It is a thought process, and a scheduling of your time.

My goal each day is at least 2.5oo words. I don\’t always make it. My goal for steps walked each day is 10,000 steps. I don\’t always make them either, but I try. How long does it take you to write 2,500 words? To me, this depends on how much I have prepared the day or weeks before. If I have prepared, I will write more. If I am not prepared, I will sit and look at the keys and the screen.

I am not perfect, but this is how I prepare a day of writing.

1. I get up with a positive attitude. I tell myself I will write 5,000 words today. I have my notes, my synopsis, my character sketch, or anything else I have prepared.
2. I tell my family I am writing today. I do not want to be disturbed unless someone is dying. I shut the door to my office.
3. When I open my manuscript, I will reread the last thing I wrote. I will get back into my character\’s head.
4. When I am tired, I will take a short walk. I try to walk at least 250 steps each hour. This exercises my body and my mind.
5. I turn my phone, facebook, and email off. I only want to concentrate on my writing. Honestly, I only put my phone on silence. My children or grandchildren my have an emergency. It hasn\’t happened yet, but who knows, it could.
6. I will firmly set in my office chair and write.
7. I will only think about my book, not lunch or dinner. Grilled cheese sandwiches are great in the air fryer and it only takes ten minutes or less. Lunch done, and sometimes dinner is done.
8. I will schedule a week in advance, and I will write all blogs for the week. My time will be for writing.
9. I will listen to music that will help me write. I listen to Celtic. I love the flute and bagpipe, and I love the music.
10. When I finish for the day, I will close my computer and think about tomorrow. Everyone needs time to be by themselves and think about the future.

When I am writing, I try to write more than 5,000 words each day. That way, I can do something with my husband if I am ahead of schedule. I write down everything I am going to do in my calendar. I will be more successful if I write things down.

The pandemic has probably slowed a lot of us down. It has me. My only sister passed away in September. We have not had a memorial service for her yet, or scattered her ashes. We do not have closure, I do not have closure. This has slowed me down a lot, but I am getting better. I love to read, but I will not read any in any book I\’m reading until my goal is completed. I want to finish my book and start on the next one.

Do you have a schedule? How do you spend your writing day?