I write in one of two modes: trance or pain. I’ve written massive amounts of technical and fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes it flows and you enter this other world. Sometimes I write a sentence or two, get up and pace the room, then sit and write another two sentences. My latest writing has been of the painful type, but I’m hoping the smoothness will return for the next project. It’s SO much easier on the spirit.
A fond memory is of writing my first movie script and realizing as I was just a page from ending it that my writing was slowing down because I knew that when I typed the last period, I’d leave that world and I really didn’t want to. Then I typed the last period. And the world really did disappear. I still miss it.
I think your instincts are perfect. We aren’t unusual at all. But a lot of us get off on process as well as product, so we get twice the fun. What joy to know someone else who loves words.
I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that many successful writers wake up in the morning, delegate certain hours to the task, buckle down, and ‘git ‘er done’.
I could never do that. I have to wait until inspiration strikes, no matter the time of day, or whether I stay up all night until it’s done.
Do you have a ‘schedule’?
I love words. Just as a caveman loves raw meat, not like a French nobleman loves a fine wine.