The last two weeks have been really busy for me, which is why there was no blog post last week and I’m late getting one up this week. When I get busy I prefer to use my time to focus on writing my books instead of blogging. A few hundred words added to my current manuscript is a better use of my time than writing a post for my blog.

I’ve learned over the years to carve out time to write. While I prefer to have long stretches of time, that isn’t always possible. If I have at least an hour then I’m good. Anything less than that and I will usually focus on writing a blog post or two instead because I need at least an hour to read over what I’ve already written and get back into the story. I don’t always read the entire book from page one. Sometimes I only read the last two or three chapters just to remind myself where I am and what’s happening. I try not to edit while rereading, since that way leads to madness for me. If I allow myself to really edit those chapters then I will end up editing those chapters over and over and over again and I will never finish the book.

I do, however, fix typos or add in missing words as I go along. Occasionally I’ll expand on a scene. But even that I am careful with because adding a few sentences here and there is one thing but if I’m not careful I end up deleting stuff and rewriting and then I’m in editing mode and no longer in creative mode. Those are two completely different mindsets and once my critical brain takes over it’s impossible for me to shut it off.

In editing mode I start over analyzing everything from the sentence length to the word choice and then the creative writing comes to a full stop. It’s why I prefer to write a first draft and then set it aside for at least a month before I start on edits. If I’m editing a book then I’m not writing. I know authors who will split their time up so they are writing new words in the morning and working on edits in the evenings, but I can’t do that.

When I was writing full time before I would write the first draft of one book and continue working on another while I let that first one sit for a few weeks to a month. If writing was going well then I might even finish the first draft of a second book while I’m waiting to begin edits on that first book. Then I set the second book aside and switch to editing mode. I would spend a few weeks working on nothing but edits for the first book and then when I was done I would take a few days to a week off and then start on edits for the second book. Once edits were done on both I would then take a week or two and just relax and refill my creative well. I typically do a lot of reading for pleasure to help switch off that critical brain and then I’d start working on another book or two, since I prefer to work on more than one book at a time.

My process won’t work for everyone but it works for me.