I recently presented a student writing activity that didn't go as well as it had in my mind when I planned it. That learning experience helped me this past week, as I worked up a creative writing activity for a student writers event coming up soon. I realized there could be a different outcome than what I imagined. I looked for weaknesses in my plan and "tweaked" my steps and directions until I was satisfied. When I was done, I found it interesting how the activity had evolved. I ended up with something quite different than what I originally envisioned.

Writing a book often follows a similar process. You begin with an idea, not knowing exactly where you will end up or how you will get there. You type up your original idea, then stare at the screen and mull, add a little, subtract a little, mull some more, drag this part around and drop it somewhere that fits better, stare some more, etc. In fact, this ease of computerized writing and editing has freed me up immensely since the days of pen and paper, when my words looked so much more permanent, and seemed so much harder to rearrange.

Sometimes you realize that a whole section just isn't working, no matter how you move it around or tweak it. Your creative voice says, "I can't just delete that whole section! I spent a lot of time creating that!" But your self-critiquing voice says, "Yes, you know you must delete it. Be a big girl and just do it." As soon as you do, you feel relieved because you can see that now you are in a better position to get where you were going.

The more you write, the more ideas you get. Some you try out, then discard, then try another direction. The very process of thinking, writing it out, and editing leads to more creative thinking. As you go back and read aloud, you fix typos and find words that don't sound quite right. Even creating this blog post followed the exact scenario I've described.

Sometimes I am leery of starting a new writing project because I am not confident in my ability to come up with good work. Yet every time I make myself begin, I find I can trust this process, and I gain more faith in it. I choose not to listen to my excuses.

In getting back into the sequel which I started years ago, I have used several writing strategies. First I reread, edited, cut and changed much of what I had. I looked at the pacing and decided my chapters were too long. I hope to attract reluctant boy readers, and my school experience the last few years convinced me that shorter chapters would make the book easier to handle. I cut almost every chapter in the middle, which meant I had to rethink the beginnings and endings of each chapter. I also divided the rest of my synopsis up into chapters, now that I know about how much needs to happen in each chapter. A check of my word count and a comparison to TOS showed me that I may be close to 2/3 done. It's time to start picking up the pace of the story. I made a timeline of events and chapters so I know what day I want the story to end on and what will take place on each of the last few days.

Next, I realized that the plot needed a little more focus. I reread some plotting guidelines, which reminded me to ask myself: what does the main character need or want, and what is standing in the way? What complications arise, so that it appears he will not be able to get what he wants? Thinking in these terms helped me to focus on what exactly Ben's fears and desires are, and what specific developments I could create to frustrate his desires, which increases suspense. This type of planning helped me to come up with ideas. And once I knew where I needed the story to go, I was able to go back to what I had already written and throw in a little foreshadowing--hints or shadows of what is to come.

The third strategy I used was to go back through my writer's notebook, which I hadn't looked at since I was finishing TOS. My notebook is full of cowboy sayings, cowboy stories, and other sayings and stories that I have collected, mostly from my husband and two sons. When I saw something that "grabbed" me, I would spend some time trying to figure out how I could weave that into the story. This would even give me ideas for adding to the plot or adding to scenes I had already written. Adding elements from real incidents gives more depth, detail, believability, and humor--"true fiction." As I wrote in an earlier post, writing is often like working a giant puzzle. Sometimes it's frustrating when you get stuck; then you find one little piece you need, and suddenly other little pieces start to jump out at you and fit together.