I write, as I said in class, both by hand and on computer. When writing by hand, I usually use loose leaf paper, college ruled. I prefer lately to use pen, I use Uni-Ball fine point rollerball pens in black ink. I write in cursive. I would call my handwriting a materiality of my writing, and the cursive nature of it is part of that materiality. There is a smoothness to it that I think is important, and a speed. I generally write in cursive for non-creative things also. I don’t when I am writing letters (my cursive writing is hard to read for other people) and sometimes when writing notes for class (I’d link that to impersonal nature of note-taking, for me). I have written two stories in the little notebook that I brought in to class, although that is mostly a place for throwing in random ideas. I group the related ideas together. The notebook is lined, but for the idea sections I write both straight and on an angle. I have a macbook and use Microsoft Word, Times New Roman, whatever margins they automatically give you, size 12 or size 11 and single-spaced. At night, when I’ve shut off my computer, if I am struck with a new paragraph, I’ll write that down in the notebook. There’s no reason as to whether I write a story by hand or on the computer or in the notebook, I just go with what feels right. I’ll often switch from handwriting to typing at around the 3/4 mark, which means I’ll type up what I have already and then continue on typing the rest of the story.
My folder organization in Microsoft is key for me. There is the general writing folder, within that folder there is other, personals, poetry, and prose folders. I am primarily a prose fiction writer. I used to have within that writer folders that organized stories by what I felt their quality was. It got to be that that was a little harsh on myself, so I switched it to Finished, In Progress, stories written in college courses (within that folder are folders for the different courses), and then Unfinished (Open-ended). Changing the “badorIdontknow” folder to the “Unfinished (Open-ended)” folder has been more productive in allowing me to go back to first pages I wrote three years ago and finishing those stories, something I did last semester. With the first word being “bad” I tended to avoid that folder and think of everything in there as poor quality
I’m also part of the has-a-desk-just-to-not-use-it crew. I write at my kitchen table, or on my couch or on my bed. Sometimes at the library. I have one of those laptop pads for when I’m on my couch or bed. I love it, I just wish it had a cup holder. Similar to Nina, I write in silence.
When I’ve gone too long without writing (sometimes it’s months), I need outside resources to push along my desire to write. Fiction books (novels or short story collections), movies, fashion magazines. I think of these things as good for my soul. I love fashion and collect fashion magazines, so a really good magazine–either in its editorials or articles–can really excite me into wanting to be creative. I enjoy television but it rarely excites my creativity the way movies do.
–Amanda
