Write - what do you like to write?

What I like to write is stuff that comes up from deep within me and I don't even seem to own it. I don't always understand the process or what it means, but I know there's this flow or zone I can get into when I'm writing and I just don't feel I'm on the planet anymore.

I get this way with fiction or non-fiction. I've been there with journal writing, too. I can sit and write and at some point look up and feel like I'm coming up for air or that I've been travelling through space and time. I put down my pen or sit back from the keyboard and exhale. Sometimes hours have gone and I haven't even been aware of them. Other times I can sit and notice the seconds ticking beside me on the old-style clock on the wall. I can't tell where those moments are when I reread the text, though, so it's just a preference because I enjoy being in the zone more than I do the endurance of pecking out each word or thought as it comes to me.

Fiction holds a special place for me, though. There's something about making up characters and just waiting for their life to flesh out. The more I think about them the more real they become. Their motives don't always come straight away, but soon I do know why they do the things they do. If I sit and ponder on them, scrawl away in my journal, or the special ones I make for each novel I write, they seem to clear in my mind like fine-tuning the radio until it receives a clearer picture.

One thing I like to do when planning a novel is to just sit, with my specific journal, and write and write about the characters. I've had the best ideas just doing this. I get right into their minds and hearts and find myself weeping at times when I learn new things about them. I love the way characters can still surprise you, even when you feel you know them so intimately, when you sit down to work on the novel. I love the planning stage because everything is like Play Doh. The ideas are just there to shape and ply the way I feel. I can change my mind and change their lives, but only when I have unearthed more specific information about them. At times I feel perhaps I am led, but I do not embrace the idea of channelling. I suppose this means I believe in character driven novels. I do enjoy those kinds of novels to read, but still knock back a plot-driven tale when the mood strikes me.

I enjoy writing personal stuff, too. Maybe that's already evident. I've had personal essays published. One in particular in Chocolate for a Woman's Courage. Check out Chocolate for Women for more info. Kay Allenbaugh is a great editor to work with. She really wants your essay to be the best it can be. I suppose for writers the most easily accessible resource we have is our own life experience. I regularly mine my life for subjects to write about. But, my time is up for tonight. I'm tired after a long and trying day with the bubby. He refused to sleep other than in the car, but is thankfully slumbering away in his cot now.