Process has been a struggle for me. In the beginning it was sheer ignorance of how one begins to go about writing a novel, then the magnitude of revising 130,000+ words that overwhelmed me. How you approach prewriting, creative writing, revising, and editing is what we refer to as the writing process.

No one method made sense to me but NaNoWriMo helped quiet the inner editor long enough to get words on paper. In hindsight, after four years of winning NaNo, I think I need to have a more of an outline and intention before diving in (I’m look at you NaNo 2014). Trying to figure it all out afterwards has been a bit frustrating. And why I now advocate for a bit more intention in the prewriting stage.

I always appreciate learning about writer’s methods of organizing their work, their process, and advice. Here’s a few videos I find useful.

Neil Gaiman

Charlie Rose interviews various authors

Phillip Roth

Stephen King on writing short stories

Margaret Atwood