notebook and pencil

The first draft of the story took about six weeks to write – so much for turning out 3,000 words a day, everyday.

I am not a fast writer, by which I mean two hours of solid work and concentration might produce only two hundred words. I tend to get lost in ‘word world’ and I can agonise endlessly over the exact right one that I want. I have decided to be less rigorous in this blog.

In practice I write long hand in a lined notebook using a pencil – Moleskine notebook and a grade B, red and black barrelled Staedtler pencil (because these things are important, and I’m always interested to know how other writers produce their pages). This method of writing is much slower, I realise, than typing directly onto a screen, but I feel a closer connection with the work this way.

Once I have a scene or two down on paper I will then type them up, editing a bit as I go.

So, as of today I have 25 scenes written, typed up and waiting to be turned into my second draft.