Comments on: It’s in the Bag

By: kimberlycreates

kimberlycreates — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:08:14 +0000

Glad you enjoyed it! I like the idea of having something small and digital, like the Blackberry, to carry around. Having something that fits in your pocket is a lot easier than carrying around a spiral notebook. I’ve never been able to transition from writing first drafts longhand to writing them on the computer or anything like it though. It’s like in my mind, writing on any kind of word processor is reserved for school and work, and writing by longhand is reserved for creativity. That and it’s too easy to get caught up in a never-ending self-editing loop on a word processor. Thanks for the link to Phil Rossi’s site!

By: Dan Dan The Art Man

Dan Dan The Art Man — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:31:17 +0000

Cool article, very inspiring. I personally use my Blackberry, because it’s also my phone, so I always have it with me, it fits in my pocket, and I can type on it’s tiny keyboard as fast as I can write with a pen, except the text is already digitized and can be transfered to my computer in seconds. There is another really cool article at writer Phil Rossi’s website, he calls it “Guerilla Writing” – finding snippets of time in the day to write, and this article shows all of the different tools he uses, small paper notebook, palm treo, iPhone, laptop, etc. Check it out, it’s a cool article: http://www.thephilrossiexperience.com/notjustadad/?p=75

Thanks for this article, I really enjoyed it.

By: kimberlycreates

kimberlycreates — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing your process and writing bag too!

By: kimberlycreates

kimberlycreates — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:04:23 +0000

Thanks for the link; I’ll check it out! That makes sense to schedule your writing time when it’s your full-time business. For me, copyediting and proofreading is my business, so I do schedule time for that. I can’t just show up at my day job or my freelance work whenever I feel like it, or nobody would pay me!

By: fergaloid

fergaloid — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:48:16 +0000

Everybody's got a different formula, adapted to their own way of living. There do appear to be certain constellations of related activity, but always in the background is the knowledge of the shoe which fits one pinches another.

So at times I schedule time by imagining gaps in the schedule of my existence, which might be conducive to writing. Yet I often am required to reconsider as unexpected random events fill in those slots. Pushed and pulled, I find my being unexpectedly in a perfect spot in which to write.

For me, alertness is required, and a willingness to push through currents of psychological requirements if need be (and available). I'll carve out several hours only to find I waste an hour gathering ideas, juggling invisible fields of emptiness, or puttering with other artistic meditations in stages of development.

This sort of semi-self directed nonlinear exploration can drive one crazy and it can provide a thrill as I find a pure strain of going into the zone and emerging hours later. Cultivating trust, staying mindful, and testing boundaries of time and energy work for me. It's a cooperative venture between myself and outside forces reflective of inside processes.

At times, I make time to write and I don't care what gets in the way. I just know and then it happens.

I do have a writing bag, which I call The Accumulator. It's a large duffel bag filled with papers, books, and other mediums of inspiration or importance which I gather to me. It's useful for me to have a place I can put all my works in progress which is portable. I might need to move everything to a certain desk, stairway, or corner with which to regard my work.

In the short term, I carry a moleskinne into which I beam my thoughts, reflections and dreams into where possible. But often I'll find myself needing to write on a post-it, back of a business card, or bill envelope. It gets thrown into The Accumulator for later study, or transcribed to the moleskinne if it's suitably developed.

But anyway, it's awful nice to be able to contemplate these matters. Thank you for sharing your equipment ideas Kim a roo. Very worth considering when one is developing their secret sauce formula.

By: Laura Christianson

Laura Christianson — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:51:51 +0000

I schedule my writing time — but then, writing is my full-time business and my clients pay me to write for them — definitely motivating!

I’ve gotten to the point where I can estimate how many minutes (or hours) it will take me to write & edit 300 words, 500 words, 800 words, 1,000 words, etc., which really helps for scheduling my day.

I’ve been test-driving http://teuxdeux.com, a free, Web-based “to-do” list. I keep it up on my browser all the time, and just cross tasks off as I complete them and add new ones as they come to mind. Really handy!