x-posted from the EVO blog

My Thong is Showing

Plot - Diagrams, charts, lists, outlines, chapter synopses, character sketches, scribbled notes.

Pants - sit and type.

What do you think I do? I have limited writing time and while I appreciate order, I have little patience for wasting time. I write ala pants. There are moments when I'm unable to use my laptop and will scribble on an envelope from my purse of paper towel while I wait. However, these occur for the current scene and rarely extend beyond unless a complicated plot twist has me stymied.

I admire those who can chart their manuscript into tiny segments but I am not one who can maintain the excitement through the tedious laying-out and continue to buzz through a book. I write as it comes to me. There is no muse. There is no magical elemental dragging me onward into publication. I never understood why writers give up their originality and creativity to a false god. Stories stem from your soul, sprout up through your viscera and flower at your fingertips. Take the credit. You've earned it.