Savannah Watson

There are countless reports from the most famous authors detailing their habits, processes, and tips for successful writing. All writers have their own methods, habits, and things that work for them.

In My Take on Freelance Writing, I discussed my process and suggestions for freelance writing. In this post, I will be talking specifically about my creative writing methods.

Writing

I am primarily a novelist. While I have written flash fiction and short stories, I prefer to write 60,000-word-plus novels. I am a long-winded person, so novels usually provide me enough wiggle room to include all of the things I feel are important (or possibly unimportant) to include.

In the past, I used to jump between creative projects: start one, work on it for 20,000 words, then jump to another project. In recent years, however, I have dedicated all of my attention to a single novel series (Salem Winters Paranormal Problem Solver – Volume One will be available on October 31st 😉).

I have found that (for myself) dedicating my undivided creative attention to one project is crucial to not only getting the project done but also keeping my works from bleeding into each other. Sometimes, if you write two stories at the same time, the characters start to act, talk, and think alike (especially if the point of view is the same for both stories). The only time I work on a different project simultaneously is freelance work because those are usually articles, lists, and personal essays.

On the days I spend the entire day writing, I try to keep to a 9-5 style schedule. I try very hard to write sustainably for the entire day, with a lunch break worked in – although, I usually work while I eat too. Writing on a schedule allows me to really gauge my productivity. However (as we all know), sometimes it doesn’t always work that way, at which point, I just work as long as I can.

I prefer to hand-write the first draft of my novels, then transcribe them later on my computer – and yes, this does lead to A LOT of hand cramping. I just feel like my creativity flows better when I hand-write. So, depending on what I am working on and in what phase, I either spend the day writing by hand or copying on the computer.

When I am not spending the entire day writing in my home office (which means I am at my “real” job), I always carry a notebook with me in case inspiration strikes. I am a writer at heart, so when the muses strike (and we know they choose the weirdest times for striking), I dig out my notebook and write.

Editing

As much time as I spend writing I probably spend on editing as well. If a project takes a week to write, it will usually take a week or more to edit, so I always account for this in my calendars.

I edit the piece in full first, reading through the whole thing and fixing things that stand out. Then, I line-edit, hunting specifically for misspellings and grammatical errors that may be small enough to overlook in the big picture. Then, I edit in full again. And if I have time (and depending on the project), I ask beta readers to edit as well.

Little Habits

As much as I know technology can be a distraction, I usually do not deny myself access to my phone or the internet. Yes, I get distracted by both, but most of the time, I can get myself back on track easily.

I always work with some kind of background noise; sometimes, that is music, other times it’s Youtube videos. I even have a playlist on my Youtube account for ambient noises like rain+fire, rain+Animal Crossing music, rain+Studio Ghibli music (can you tell I love rain?), and the Doom Eternal soundtrack (I also love metal). I HATE silence, so I find noise CRITICAL to my productivity.

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Final Thoughts

My writing process is a bit complicated to explain and varies widely based on SO many factors, so this post was a bare-bones look. Maybe some of my process you can use, and feel free to share your own process in the comments.

In the future, I intend to write a post about my writing process specifically for my novel series Salem Winters Paranormal Problem Solver. Stay tuned (it wouldn’t hurt to follow if you want to be notified when I post that one!)

Thank you for reading! 😊

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