Another writer once told me that my writing process was “organic.”  I think this is a fancy way of saying I’m a total pantser, but I’ll take it!  I usually take notes for research before I start, then do a rough (very rough) outline.  But I love to just dive right in and see what happens!  The finished product is always different from what I’d imagined at the beginning, and the unexpected twists and turns a story takes along the way are a big part of the fun.

I won’t lie: if my process sounds messy, that’s because it is.  Sometimes I think it’s that way because, with three small kids, my life is messy!  I keep trying to get organized, but my brand-new and very empty day planner says I’m failing miserably at this point.  Still, what I do seems to work.  I have written in every room in my house at every hour of the day and night, holed up wherever I could find a quiet space at whatever time I could manage it.  I have fallen asleep at the keyboard more than once, and I’ve had to accept that coffee is a necessary component of my universe if I want to continue being a functional human being.  Sometimes I’m fried.  Sometimes one page takes an hour (or more).  But I love to write, and I need to tell the stories I imagine.  So I do what I have to do to wrestle them out of my head and onto the page.

That’s probably the best advice I can offer to an aspiring writer: to make the time to write!  The dream never becomes the reality without some blood, sweat and tears.  And also chocolate and the occasional glass of good white wine, in my case.  However busy you are, there’s always time to carve out for writing, even if it’s really early or really late, on the floor or in a closet (hey, they’re quiet!).  If you want the time, it’s there.  And if you use it, getting those stories out and honing your craft, your dreams are that much closer to becoming a reality!