The Writing Process: A Blog Tour

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Duffy from SureD It’s All Good tagged me in a process post. (She called me one of her favorite bloggers – teehee!) Duffy is a kindred spirit, and mother of two preschoolers of her very own. In a rare divergence from poop discussions, she asked me if I’d be willing to take part in a “blog tour.”

This is basically where writers geek out with one another and talk about the who, what, when, where, why and how on our interpretation of the written word. So prepare yourself for a ride through the rabbit hole that is the wonderland of how my mind works.

1)    What am I working on?

I write term papers for a living. (Marketing/product papers for my company.) By night I’m the mommy blogger you’ve all come to laugh at. I shared with you my BIG NEWS – I have a children’s book coming out this year.

Painstakingly slowly I am continuing to work on The Book; it’s the story of my sons surprise arrival.

And, of course, day by day I’m constantly jotting down notes for this blog. But I’m never “working on” the blog. I just tell the stories as they happen – when you’ve got tiny twins named Search and Destroy the tales kinda come to you pretty easy.

2)    How does my work differ from others of its genre?

“Mommy Blogger.” It’s actually quite a polarizing term. Personally, I embrace it. The only reason I started a blog is because I was about to become a mother. I blog about my children. Thus, Mommy Blogger.

What makes me unique? Well, they’re my stories. Also I have twins, who made their grand life experience more than three months early, so that makes life a little more interesting. My philosophy with my writing has always been to find the humor of the situation – highlight both the headaches and hilarity. Because sometimes that’s all you can do to make it through.

3)    Why do I write what I do?

I like telling stories. (Interestingly enough, writing about writing write now is a lot harder.) I write because I want the little pieces remembered – some of my favorite childhood memories are of my grandmother telling tales of her past. I write to keep history alive – this is my own little piece of the family tree.

I write to make sense of it all. I’ve always been drawn to Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken.” And my path to motherhood was *definitely* not the route well traversed by my peers. (I have always been directionally challenged…) Chronicling the adventures of Search and Destroy was a form of therapy for me – removing the challenges from my mind and leaving my fears behind on the page.

During the boys’ tenure at Chez NICU, I was inundated by the unknown and the (unknown to me) terminology surrounding medically fragile babies. I wrote everything down. Research and revoked Google privileges would come next. I published the stories on this blog as a way to keep friends and family updated; it was far to exhausting to try and keep others updated any other way. Suddenly, people started reading.

At the same time, I scoured the interwebs for any like stories. And I found them in blogs – every story unique, but well written, made me feel like family. I write what I do in the hopes that one person out there will find my tiny island here on the World Wide Web and feel at home. Be that person seeking comfort from infertility, prematurity, twinsanity, mental illness or merely the mundane of life – welcome, this story is for you.

4)    How does your writing process work?

Verbal diarrhea.

Well it’s true. My mind races ahead at 90 miles an hour. My imagination spins into high gear, weaving the story into place, editing the film that only I can see. Words and phrases are a gateway drug – the canvas and paints I need to magically make my world appear on the page.

The black blinking cursor on my screen, marking the solitude of a blank page, is akin to finding the wardrobe to Narnia. What adventures await me there?

Once a story has arrived – by which I mean my own observation on some piece of life – my concerto is composed almost entirely in my head by the time I am able to flip open my laptop. At this time it becomes a race against time to get it all written down. The moments between idea and execution are a period of panic – god forbid I forget! (The greatest lie humanity will every tell itself is, “I’ll remember that.” No you won’t. Write it down.)

Fingers stretched and ready, I take to my keyboard of letters as though they were the ivories of a grand piano. Each letter is a note to be played. Deep breath. And…begin.

Write it all down. Every word and thought. Stream of conscious. Get the ideas documented. Mold and sculpt later. My first draft of anything is a jumbled incoherent mess. But there’s comfort in chaos.

Once it’s all there I can relax a bit. Then it’s time to revise and reorder. Basically at some point in my writing process I need to come up with one (a point, that is).

And sometimes it all comes together in the end. For those other times, well, that’s what the delete key is for.

Next up is Sisyphus Cedalion from Taken Seriously Amusing. Sisy started his blog shortly before mine and though our genres differ drastically, his philosophic musings on life are beautifully poetic. It’s only fitting for me to turn this tour to him since he’s my go-to friend to discuss all things writing.

Sisy, the stage is yours… <Exuent. Pursued by a bear.>

2 Comments

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2 Responses to The Writing Process: A Blog Tour

  1. Look at you waxing all poetical about your process. I love your stories.

  2. Gramma J

    I recall you as a young girl reading Harriet the Spy. After that, you walked around for weeks carrying a little spiral notebook jotting down what you observed, ideas, comments about the daily happenings of school or home. Hmmm, sounds like you are still doing that.