Writing Process Oddments
Still proofing—although the end is in sight: yay!
There’s not a lot more to say about proofing itself, other than that it’s line-by-line work that requires a great deal of concentration and so is also quite exhausting, especially given the tight timeframe for “doin’ the thing” in.
Mind you, a great deal of the writing process is intensive, only in different ways—for example, the line-by-line fine detail checking of the proof is a whole different universe than getting out the first draft, when there is this huge idea in your head and a blank page or screen in front of you, and the need and desire to transpose the former to the latter in a way that is true and retains fire and passion and colour—i.e. that is a tale worth reading as well as telling.
In the first draft phase I find that I do a lot of other creative things as well: not just reading, but listening to music, working in the garden, going for long walks—these are all activities that I find nourish creativity. As does a glass of wine and good conversation with friends, or a road trip to some colurful and vibrant, or wild and beautiful place.
Getting through the proofing is almost the opposite. Coffee, I find, becomes a staple, while magazines supersede books as reading material: the sort of magazines that are light on words but big on photo shots of the beautiful and picturesque (I’m talking about landscapes, design, and food here folks, by the way, not people!), easily picked up while you’re waiting for the coffee to brew—and then as easily put down again. In terms of conversation, this is a time when the passing word for, and brief quality time with, the cat comes into its own. As for long walks, or walks at all—who needs them when one can restrict oneself to the twenty or so paces between the front door and the letter box? 😉
So there you have it—a few thoughts on the the mechanics of getting through the varying different stages of the writing process!
I too find that different stages of the writing process have different accompaniments, but also different times of day: for me, coming up with new ideas is closely bound up with walking, at any time of the day; I prefer to work on first drafts in the morning, with as little distraction as possible, which means no music on; as soon as I switch to editing, I am happy to have music (winter) or the cricket (summer) on in the background; and proofreading is what I do late at night, when the rest of the house is asleep. Now, if only I could coordinate all of these into a daily routine…
Tim, I am chagrined to realise that I have missed your comment up until now: mea culpa and my apologies! I agree with you about new ideas and walking, or in my case gardening as well. For some reason both are definitely the realm of ideas. I can work on anything at any time of the day though, so long as I work myself into the mode. And generally don’t listen to music or the radio (no, not even cricket!) when doing any kind of concentrated work, whether creating or editing/proofing—but I like to have something on in the breaks and often there’s a piece of music that goes with a creative mood—like Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake when I was working on Thornspell, or a blast of Led Zeppelin when I just need to blow the cobwebs away. I think the thing with the music is that I like to really listen to it, rather than having it on as background, because when necessary I can tune out even quite intrusive noise, such as the sound of demoliton and the road and infrastructure repair works that have been a big part of our ambient environment here over the past year.