. . . and trying to work out what to write about.

I mean to say reader, we all know I want to be a published author. I can tell you little snippets about my writing, the process, even the ups and downs, but so what?

There’s only so much I can say that is interesting. I will tell you that I seem to like writing the first draft more than the re-writing of the same.

Writing a first draft is fun and exciting. It’s new, with new characters and new adventures. It’s really like reading a book as you go. Only the words you’re reading are flying from your own fingertips. It’s fun to plot twists and turns, to have new characters walk into the story and surprise you. That really does happen, sometimes I think to myself, where did you come from. The characters do unexpected things, things the writer didn’t plan, but they did it none the less!

In the writing of a first draft, you can expect the unexpected. The first draft is exploration and discovery.

Re-writing is a whole other matter. Re-writing is plodding over the same words, reading them, reading them again, shuffling them around and then perhaps, reading them out loud to listen to them. And mostly still they don’t seem quite right, don’t quite say what I want. Re-writing is reading a paragraph or sentence until you hate it. Listening to a character until you are sick of the sound of their voice. But still you want to do that same paragraph, sentence or character justice. To present them in a way that other people will want to read about and get to know them.

Sometimes reader, to be honest, I wonder why I bother doing this. Every notion I ever had of being a published author is changing. Gone, it seems, are the days of submitting to a publishing house and finding someone who loves your story and pays you to print it for you. We are in a time of rapid change in our media and social lives. I mean here I am, writing my bit of dribble and who knows where you’re from. I may have a reader from Istanbul or California, or around the corner in North Rothbury.

So why do it? Why bother? I think I bother because I love the journey. Admittedly I just enjoy it, writing that is. I love researching all the itsy-bitsy stuff. For example, I’ve started a new first draft,( I’ll tell you all about it later, in another post) it’s YA outback kind of story and after the initial excitement of planning a few detail and general plot ideas, comes the research. So reader, now I know lots of stuff about Dunedoo Central School. I have plans to drive to Dunedoo NSW and stay the night. Sometime soon I’m planning a road trip and I can have a good scout around the area. As I say, I love the research stage. The stuff you learn! Fascinating!

Maybe that’s why I bother. To learn new things and in a weird way, live a different life for a while. Pretend to be someone else, if only on a page.

Really I think I love to write for the same reasons I love to read. To lose myself in a different world.

Why do you love to read or write?