Pencil sharpening

I've been thinking a lot lately about the process of writing, especially my own process. Here are some of the conclusions I've made. First, I'm the kind of person that has to have a regular writing time each day if I'm to get anything of value written. Mornings are preferable but I haven't been able to work that into my schedule this semester yet, so it remains as an elusive goal.

Second, when it comes to writing stories, I do much better if I sketch out the plot beforehand (at least the general idea of the story). Recently I've tried just starting from scratch, writing the scene as I go without any idea of what's going to happen, and it hasn't worked too well for me.

Third, I'm a dialogue person. Whenever I write scenes, they almost inevitably turn into pure dialogue back and forth, and I have to force myself to add anything extra. Perhaps I should try writing for the stage. :) At any rate, I'm going to be working on narrative description and character development and the other things I'm not so good at.

Fourth, I've realized how important constant reading is to the writer's proper nutrition. Over the past year I haven't been reading as much as I used to, and I find that I feel like I don't really know how to write a novel or a short story, because I haven't read much of either genre lately.

Enough of that. This week I'm going to try auditing my time and making a daily hour-by-hour plan each morning, to see if it helps me make better use of my time. I'm already behind on my homework. ~sigh~ :)