Writing Styles

I’ve been editing a story for a friend and decided it was a good time to stop and write something.  Before this my time was consumed with editing my fourth book.  It is nearly ready to go to the publisher.  With all this editing it feels good to actually write something again.  Writing is my first love.  Editing and promoting are necessary but in the end you do all that so you can write some more.  There is a common saying, “Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life.”  That’s the way I feel about writing.  Back before the computer days I used to watch my father working on his editorials.  He would always write them out longhand and then take them to work to have them typed.  I would watch him sit in his La-z-Boy and think up the right things to say.  It was as if a giant paper was in front of him and he was organizing the story in his mind on that imaginary paper.  When he was ready he would pull out a yellow pad of paper and write the article in one sitting.  He never had to pause to search for the right word or phrase.  It was all worked out in advance.  My father was a talented man.  My style is much more involved as a novel is so much more detailed than a magazine editorial.  As many of you know, I plan it out on paper and then think through it 10,000 times.  Finally I put it on paper (in the computer).  It’s slow and methodical but it works for me.  Many writers just sit down and let the words flow.  That sounds like fun to me but it also sounds scary.  It’s like driving without a map in the city.  If you make a wrong turn you find yourself in a dead end.  Nevertheless, some writers thrive in such an environment.  I wish I could do that.  Other writers put out a rough draft and then write the final draft off of it.  I confess I don’t have the patience for that.  If I’m going to write then I want to be sure of what I am putting out.  In the end there is no right or wrong way to write.  Just as there is no right or wrong way of sleeping.  You do whatever works best for you.  The biggest key to writing is to know when to stop or else you will just revise your work forever and never see it published.