I’m a paper person. The whole world of computers and social media does not come naturally to me. I have a hard time organizing my writing this way. What I mean by this, is that my current Word document for my novel has over 250 pages. This may sound good, but the problem is that since I don’t write from beginning to end, it becomes very difficult to organize the document, to remember what I have.
There are doubles of sections, random notes and pieces written in different tenses throughout. Even different names for characters appear as I start to go through the pages because over time I have changed some character’s names. It’s a very messy method.
When I open my file these days, my first reaction is to close it back up. TOO MUCH STUFF! What I keep meaning to do, is to get away for a few days, in a place that has a big open floor (with no dogs running around) and take all 250+ printed out pages and start sorting. This may seem tedious, and it is, I have done it in the past. But bringing it all back to paper form, to touch my book, cut it into sections and rearrange it, and dive into every nook and cranny that I can’t see on the computer, works for me.
Do what you need to do to make peace with your writing and find your way.
WRITING PROMPT: How do you find peace with your writing? In life?
