I was recently tagged and challenged by fellow writer, Elizabeth Hein to write 7 things about my writing on Facebook. It was fun to read her list and I like the idea of sharing such tidbits. In that list alone, I felt as though I got to know a personal side of her. When I had written my seven, I realized that I could probably write another seven, and another seven after that. Instead, I’ve decided to list ten things about my writing here (no special order):
1. My best and most creative writing time is between 5:00-8:00 a.m.
2. I have written the beginning of two new novels since the autumn and cannot decide which I want to drive forward most. At the same time, my second novel is begging for a re-write.
3. I never know how a story will end until I get there.
4. Lately, all the social media focus on my part has affected my writing time and concentration – the excitement of a debut coming out and all. Sometimes I want to toss away all the technology and live like the old days. Wouldn’t you love to jump back in time for a day or two, or a week if you’re up to it? I’d go back to the early 20th century.
5. I am a note girl. I write notes to myself with new words and expressions and leave them EVERYWHERE. They are in every nook and cranny in this house I think, yet I am baffled when I can’t find the ones I’m looking for.
6. The sun is one of my greatest motivators. It makes me feel good to the bone, and when I feel good to the bone, the creative juices flow more easily.
7. I edit as I write. I can spend far too long on trying to perfect that one sentence instead of moving on. But I get irritated if it isn’t just right. I rather enjoyed the editing process with my editor on Gillian Pugsley – no really! She was great and I think we were very much on the same wavelength.
8. I need tea when I write, lots and lots of tea.
9. My family, my brother-in-law, my sister, all those who know me well, laugh when I get praise in reviews for my quirky expressions in my writing, because they know that’s how I really talk in real life, and it drives them bananas.
10. I adore a beautifully crafted sentence, especially those simple ones that stand out from the crowd, e.g. “As the days leaned into August…” in Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner. That’s only part of her sentence, but it swept me away with that one word leaned. – Whether mine or someone else’s creation, “It makes my heels click”.
What are 10 things you’d like to share about your writing?
Susan Örnbratt 
I enjoyed your 10 things! Here are mine:
1. I write best when there’s a cat on either side of me and one behind my head.
2. My ideal writing time is 10:00-12:00 in the morning.
3. I love interviewing my characters at different points in the writing process. One protagonist cursed at me and left in the middle of the interview.
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 words “Where do you hang out?” in a Victorian-set novel but nobody would believe that 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. Social media has made my sentences shorter. Since my critique partners regularly complain about my long sentences, this is probably a good thing.
10. I created my first stories before I learned to write by playing with dolls.
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Hi Clarissa,
Great list! Thanks for the input. I’m like you, I need complete silence, too, when I write. I also read my writing aloud when I’m trying to sort it all out and even read it with my characters’ accents. Odd perhaps, but it helps a lot. I also need to work on shortening my sentences!
Happy writing /Susan
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