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Ten Things About My Writing

Clarissa Harwood 5 Comments

This position is not conducive to writing!
This position is not conducive to writing!
My teaching workload will be doubling over the next few months, so I expect my blog posts to be shorter and more sporadic than usual. Recently I was inspired by fellow writer Susan Örnbratt‘s blog post on ten things about her writing and wanted to share my own list. Here they are, in no particular order.
1. I write best when there’s a cat on either side of me and one behind my head, what I call “inside the purr machine.”
2. My ideal writing time is morning, but since I’m not an early riser, that perfect window is very small!
3. I love interviewing my characters at different points in the writing process. One protagonist cursed at me and walked out in the middle of the interview. (We have since reconciled.)
4. I used to hate editing, but the last novel I wrote was even more fun to edit than it was to write the first draft.
5. I really want to use the sentence “Where do you hang out?” in a novel set in the Victorian period but nobody would believe a Victorian would say that (I can prove they would and did).
6. I have a vicious inner critic whom I wrestle with and have to beat up regularly. She’s mean and loud and has a high, piercing voice.
7. I used to work on only one fiction project at a time but have learned to juggle two.
8. I need complete silence when I write, except for rousing battle or fight scenes (there are not many of those in my novels!).
9. Using social media, especially Twitter, has taught me to shorten my sentences. Since my critique partners regularly complain about my long sentences, this is probably a good thing.
10. As a child, before I learned how to write I made up my first stories while playing with dolls.

5 Comments

    • Clarissa Harwood Post author

      I have no idea! Every story I write is a completely different experience but I don’t know why. Why do you enjoy editing? Is it your favourite part of the writing process? I’d love to know more.

  2. Susan Örnbratt

    I’m really flattered, Clarissa, that you have posted 10 things about your writing on your blog. It’s fun to share these tidbits with other writers. Wouldn’t it be great to get a long string of 10 things from many writers. I’m sure we’d be inspired and relieved to see how quirky and human some of us can be.

    • Clarissa Harwood Post author

      Well, I thought it was a great idea, and I enjoyed reading yours! Yes, it would be fun to see similar lists from other writers, but so many of us are overwhelmed these days with things to read (and write), especially on social media, that I’m not going to hold my breath.

  3. Pingback:Ten Things About My Writing | EachStarAWorld

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