{"id":7876,"date":"2018-03-17T18:48:36","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T18:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=7876"},"modified":"2025-03-02T18:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T18:49:23","slug":"my-prodigiously-convoluted-yet-miraculously-productive-low-tech-writing-process-part-2-with-a-few-modest-writing-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/my-prodigiously-convoluted-yet-miraculously-productive-low-tech-writing-process-part-2-with-a-few-modest-writing-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"My Prodigiously Convoluted Yet Miraculously Productive Low-Tech Writing Process \u2014 Part 2 \u2014 With a Few Modest Writing Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/my-prodigiously-convoluted-yet-miraculously-productive-low-tech-writing-process-part-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first install\u00adment<\/a> of this piece, I described the first half of my writ\u00ading process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Writ\u00ading the first draft in long\u00adhand or on a type\u00adwriter<\/li>\n<li>Stor\u00ading the com\u00adplet\u00aded draft in a draw\u00ader<\/li>\n<li>Edit\u00ading the hand- or type-writ\u00adten man\u00adu\u00adscript with a blue pen<\/li>\n<li>Retyp\u00ading the man\u00adu\u00adscript into a word proces\u00adsor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, hold on to your hat as we go into the sec\u00adond half of this piece, start\u00ading with my recent dis\u00adcov\u00adery of the miss\u00ading link for nov\u00adel\u00adists and seri\u00adous writ\u00aders.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7884\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h-300x200.jpg\" alt width=\"400\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h-904x602.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h-430x286.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18775331385_ef9f2a6d7b_h.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Alphas\u00admart Neo2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In Jan\u00adu\u00adary 2018, I made the deci\u00adsion to dou\u00adble-down on my low-tech method of work\u00ading. As I saw it, the weak point in my writ\u00ading pro\u00adduc\u00adtion sys\u00adtem was the com\u00adput\u00ader. As far as writ\u00ading books is con\u00adcerned, the area in which com\u00adput\u00aders shine is in edit\u00ading and lay\u00adout; you can move whole chap\u00adters and pas\u00adsages around, and pre\u00adpare books for pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion. But they are real\u00adly only use\u00adful in the late stages of writ\u00ading a book.<\/p>\n<p>Let me empha\u00adsize some\u00adthing again: When writ\u00ading a book, espe\u00adcial\u00adly dur\u00ading the ear\u00adly drafts, it\u2019s all about get\u00adting the words written\u2014the raw words, with\u00adout wor\u00adry\u00ading about fonts, how the text will \u201clook on the page,\u201d or any of those aes\u00adthet\u00adic con\u00adcerns.<\/p>\n<p>Know\u00ading this, I want\u00aded a dis\u00adtrac\u00adtion-free word proces\u00adsor that would enable me to get the words typed up as effi\u00adcient\u00adly as pos\u00adsi\u00adble.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7885 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530-300x225.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530-768x577.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530-1024x769.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530-904x679.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530-500x376.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530-430x323.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20160914_084530.jpg 1198w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While doing some research, I found a clunky hip\u00adster writ\u00ading affec\u00adta\u00adtion (pic\u00adtured at right), the Freewrite, which, at $500, was as expen\u00adsive as it was pre\u00adten\u00adtious. But then I found an old\u00ader word proces\u00adsor, no longer in pro\u00adduc\u00adtion any\u00admore, the Alphas\u00admart Neo.<\/p>\n<p>I was instant\u00adly smit\u00adten.<\/p>\n<p>It seems that the Neo, Alphas\u00admart 3000, and Neo2 were designed orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly for the edu\u00adca\u00adtion mar\u00adket, to teach stu\u00addents how to type. Many schools couldn\u2019t afford to out\u00adfit every stu\u00addent with a com\u00adput\u00ader, but, at about $200 a unit (back in the ear\u00adly 2000s), the Neo was a great alter\u00adna\u00adtive. My sense is that when tablets became inex\u00adpen\u00adsive, how\u00adev\u00ader, schools went with them instead of the Neo.<\/p>\n<p>But jump ahead 15 years or so to today, and this is great news for me and oth\u00ader seri\u00adous writ\u00aders, because now we can get a Neo (used, of course) for under $50 with ship\u00adping.<\/p>\n<p>I ordered a Neo2 from a reseller on Ebay, or what I thought was <em>one<\/em> device, because when the pack\u00adage arrived there were <em>two<\/em> Neo2\u2019s inside. And now that I\u2019ve been using the Neo2 for a cou\u00adple months, I\u2019m glad I have a sec\u00adond one. Why? Well, this lit\u00adtle device is offi\u00adcial\u00adly my \u201cfor\u00adev\u00ader\u201d word proces\u00adsor. I can type all of my words into this lit\u00adtle unit, and as long as I can con\u00adtin\u00adue to plug a USB cord into a com\u00adput\u00ader, I\u2019ll be able to trans\u00adfer my words from the Neo2 to MS Word (or anoth\u00ader pro\u00adgram).<\/p>\n<p>The genius of this device is its sim\u00adplic\u00adi\u00adty. It\u2019s basi\u00adcal\u00adly just a full-size key\u00adboard with a tiny LCD screen. You type your words in, and they\u2019re instant\u00adly saved in the mem\u00ado\u00adry. From the time you press the \u201con\u201d but\u00adton, it\u2019s only about three sec\u00adonds before the word pro\u00adcess\u00ading doc\u00adu\u00adment you were work\u00ading on last opens up, with the cur\u00adsor patient\u00adly await\u00ading your next words. The LCD screen shows between three and six lines of text; I\u2019ve found that four lines is per\u00adfect for me. It\u2019s pow\u00adered by 3 AA bat\u00adter\u00adies, so you don\u2019t need an elec\u00adtri\u00adcal out\u00adlet, and the bat\u00adter\u00adies last for hun\u00addreds of hours. There\u2019s no inter\u00adnet con\u00adnec\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty, so you\u2019re nev\u00ader dis\u00adtract\u00aded by email or web surf\u00ading (which you might jus\u00adti\u00adfy as \u201cresearch for the book\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7910 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317-300x225.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317-904x678.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317-430x323.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1317.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Neo has a word count fea\u00adture, so you can know when you\u2019ve met your dai\u00adly quo\u00adta and go drink\u00ading (or, in my case, since I no longer drink, go swim\u00adming, play golf, ski, or climb a moun\u00adtain). It has a built-in the\u00adsaurus, but it\u2019s prim\u00adi\u00adtive; the few times I\u2019ve tried to use it, the poor lit\u00adtle thing hasn\u2019t under\u00adstood the word I was try\u00ading to find syn\u00adonyms for; you\u2019re bet\u00adter off stick\u00ading with a paper\u00adback dic\u00adtio\u00adnary and the\u00adsaurus. Final\u00adly, when you\u2019ve fin\u00adished a piece and want to put it on your com\u00adput\u00ader to edit, lay out, or pub\u00adlish it, all you do is plug it into the computer\u2019s USB port, and the Neo acts like a key\u00adboard, \u201ctyp\u00ading\u201d your words into the com\u00adput\u00ader at about 200 words per minute, or, for those of us old enough to remem\u00adber, at the speed of a real\u00adly fast com\u00adput\u00ader modem. (When\u00adev\u00ader I see the words unfurl across the screen, it pleas\u00adant\u00adly reminds me of my youth, with com\u00adput\u00aders and BBSes.)<\/p>\n<p>I love this device, but I\u2019m not going to do a review of all of its fea\u00adtures here. Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1hdS0yvYwkw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this video<\/a>&nbsp;or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xXuRZbq8-0s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this one<\/a>, and con\u00adtact Joe Van Cleave or Cheyanne with your ques\u00adtions. I think it\u2019s won\u00adder\u00adful that they\u2019ve found the time to cre\u00adate videos about their Neos; unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, I\u2019m too busy writ\u00ading.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/alphasmart-neo-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7879 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/alphasmart-neo-3-300x190.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"190\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/alphasmart-neo-3-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/alphasmart-neo-3-500x316.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/alphasmart-neo-3-430x272.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/alphasmart-neo-3.jpg 555w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As far as tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy goes that will enable you to sim\u00adply <em>get the words writ\u00adten<\/em>, the Alphas\u00admart Neo or Neo2 is the novelist\u2019s miss\u00ading link.<\/p>\n<p>Even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly, I plan on <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.katmellon.com\/2014\/05\/painted-alphasmart-round-up.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paint\u00ading<\/a> one of my Neo 2\u2019s\u2014probably a hot red like the one above.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inter\u00adlude: A Cou\u00adple of Writ\u00ading Secrets<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a secret about writ\u00ading pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly that very few novice writ\u00aders (and even some pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adals) seem to know:<\/p>\n<p>Book-writ\u00ading is as much an endeav\u00ador of <em>num\u00adbers<\/em> as it is one of words. The con\u00adsis\u00adtent, dai\u00adly pro\u00adduc\u00adtion of a min\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber of words is <em>the<\/em> key to get\u00adting books writ\u00adten. For novices this min\u00adi\u00admum word count should be high\u00ader, not low\u00ader, because writ\u00ading is one of those few enter\u00adpris\u00ades that, para\u00addox\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, gets tougher as you go on. It gets tougher because\u2014if you\u2019ve been chal\u00adleng\u00ading your\u00adself and studying\u2014you, the writer, get bet\u00adter and bet\u00adter. Where\u00adas you once only had one or two tools in your writ\u00ading toolk\u00adit to help you express an idea, when you\u2019ve been doing it for decades, you\u2019re car\u00adry\u00ading around a toolk\u00adit with two dozen ways of express\u00ading that same idea.&nbsp;And as you get bet\u00adter, you also con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous\u00adly raise your stan\u00addards, which makes the writ\u00ading more dif\u00adfi\u00adcult as well.<\/p>\n<p>One rea\u00adson why the con\u00adsis\u00adtent, dai\u00adly min\u00adi\u00admum word count is essen\u00adtial is this: Words add up faster than you think. To aspir\u00ading writ\u00aders, or to peo\u00adple who wist\u00adful\u00adly declare they\u2019d one day like to write a book, I\u2019ve always giv\u00aden this exam\u00adple: If you were to write just one, dou\u00adble-spaced page per day (about 250 words on aver\u00adage), every day, at the end of a year you\u2019d have the first draft of a nov\u00adel. Or, if you have a min\u00adi\u00admum word count of, say, 1,000 words a day, fig\u00adur\u00ading a rest or Sab\u00adbath day once a week, that\u2019s 6,000 words a week, or about 25,000 words per month, or the first draft of a respectable-sized nov\u00adel every three months.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7903 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615-300x225.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615-904x678.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615-430x323.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1615.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For a long time my absolute dai\u00adly min\u00adi\u00admum was 1,000 words, but I upped it to 1,500 last year while writ\u00ading \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/being-a-novelist-isnt-a-job-its-a-lifestyle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Big Book<\/a>.\u201d I have days, like all writ\u00aders do, when pro\u00adduc\u00ading those 1,000 words is back-break\u00ading men\u00adtal drudgery, when I regret my deci\u00adsion to become a writer, but for\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly those days are maybe one in a hun\u00addred. How\u00adev\u00ader, most days\u2014especially if I\u2019m not being dis\u00adtract\u00aded by pol\u00adi\u00adtics, news, social media or the interwebs\u2014I can write 2,000\u20133,000 words in a five-hour ses\u00adsion.<\/p>\n<p>For myself I\u2019ve dis\u00adcov\u00adered that, while seem\u00ading\u00adly inde\u00adfati\u00adga\u00adble, I, too, get tired, and my writ\u00ading endurance has its lim\u00adits. When pro\u00adduc\u00ading new work, 7 or 8 hours of writ\u00ading is the max (this includes 2 hours of ear\u00adly-morn\u00ading writ\u00ading and five or six hours in the late morn\u00ading and ear\u00adly after\u00adnoon); for edit\u00ading or enter\u00ading revi\u00adsions into the com\u00adput\u00ader, I can go for 11 or 12 hours, but at great cost to my well-being for the rest of the week.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-7918\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572-300x168.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572-904x508.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572-430x241.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/270464572.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/p>\n<p>One final secret. Here\u2019s anoth\u00ader rea\u00adson why a con\u00adsis\u00adtent, dai\u00adly min\u00adi\u00admum word count is essen\u00adtial: The best way to ensure even\u00adtu\u00adal&nbsp;<em>qual\u00adi\u00adty<\/em> of work is to pro\u00adduce a great <em>quan\u00adti\u00adty<\/em> of it. I write the first drafts of at least two, often three, books a year. Then, after let\u00adting the books sit in a draw\u00ader or the clos\u00adet for some time, when I take them out again to revise them, I have a large quan\u00adti\u00adty of work that I can cut, pare down, con\u00addense, and refine. I liken this process to the \u201csug\u00adar\u00ading\u201d process.<\/p>\n<p>When I was a boy, each ear\u00adly spring I would help my great Uncle Hol\u00adland make maple syrup, car\u00adry\u00ading the two-gal\u00adlon buck\u00adets of sap from the maple trees to where he was boil\u00ading it down into syrup. I for\u00adget what the exact ratio was, but it took some\u00adthing like 10&nbsp;<em>gal\u00adlons<\/em> of sap to make one <em>quart<\/em> of syrup. Regard\u00ading writ\u00ading, the point is this: You don\u2019t get the good stuff\u2014the deli\u00adcious maple syrup\u2014without a hell of a lot of sap.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Final Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Okay, so back to my process. To review, I\u2019ve done the fol\u00adlow\u00ading:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Writ\u00adten the first draft in long\u00adhand or on a type\u00adwriter<\/li>\n<li>Stored the com\u00adplet\u00aded draft in a draw\u00ader for days, weeks, months or years<\/li>\n<li>Edit\u00aded the hand- or type-writ\u00adten man\u00adu\u00adscript with a blue pen<\/li>\n<li>Retyped the man\u00adu\u00adscript into a word proces\u00adsor<\/li>\n<li>Uploaded the man\u00adu\u00adscript into Microsoft Word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7891 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054-225x300.jpg\" alt width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054-904x1205.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054-500x667.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054-430x573.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054-300x400.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2054.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Once the book is in Microsoft Word, <em>this<\/em> is when I for\u00admat the text in a nice, read\u00adable font (for read\u00ading on paper, I choose a good \u201cbook style\u201d serif font: Jan\u00adson, Goudy Old Style, or Hoe\u00adfler Text). I give the man\u00adu\u00adscript very large mar\u00adgins (like 1.5 or 2 inch\u00ades) and use dou\u00adble-spac\u00ading to make plen\u00adty of room for blue pen work lat\u00ader on. I then print out two copies (stor\u00ading one in a draw\u00ader and the oth\u00ader in the trunk of my car) and back up the file in at least three places. And then I for\u00adget the book for a while and write the first draft of some\u00adthing new.<\/p>\n<p>When I return to the print\u00aded-out book, I do my blue-pen work on it, then type in the changes and print out the revised draft. Each time I cre\u00adate a new draft, I change the title of the MS Word file, so it reads as \u201cNew_Novel_X_Draft_MMDDYY.\u201d Every day while I\u2019m enter\u00ading the blue pen revi\u00adsions, I do a \u201cSave as\u2026\u201d and change the date on the file name to that day\u2019s date. This ensures that, in the worst case sce\u00adnario, I\u2019ll only ever lose one day\u2019s writ\u00ading, or, if I acci\u00adden\u00adtal\u00adly delete a pas\u00adsage, I can go back to a file from a cou\u00adple days ear\u00adli\u00ader and recov\u00ader the pas\u00adsage.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7915 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899-300x225.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899-904x678.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899-430x323.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN0899.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I do this blue pen work and enter the changes into MS Word 3\u20135 more times, depend\u00ading on what it takes to, as Hem\u00ading\u00adway put it, \u201cget the words right.\u201d Each time I print out a fresh copy, I read sec\u00adtions aloud to iron out any kinks in the sen\u00adtences. Final\u00adly, the book is ready for oth\u00aders to read it. I print out copies of the penul\u00adti\u00admate draft for my cou\u00adple of test read\u00aders, send it to them with clear direc\u00adtion on what I\u2019m ask\u00ading them to read for, and wait.<\/p>\n<p>In any giv\u00aden week, I\u2019m work\u00ading on as many as three dif\u00adfer\u00adent projects, each at a dif\u00adfer\u00adent stage in the process, rotat\u00ading through them through\u00adout the day. Ear\u00adly in the morn\u00adings (around 4:30 a.m.) is reserved for the first draft of my newest work or a project that requires me to remain in a semi-dream state in order to put myself there and write about it. For exam\u00adple, right now I\u2019m work\u00ading on a nov\u00adel about a Bib\u00adli\u00adcal hero, where I want every sen\u00adtence to be a gem; this requires total qui\u00adet and no distractions\u2014just me and the pen\u00adcil, or me and one of my type\u00adwrit\u00aders. Lat\u00ader in the morn\u00ading, I for\u00admal\u00adly \u201cgo to work\u201d and set up in one of my usu\u00adal spots in Vas\u00adsar College\u2019s beau\u00adti\u00adful Thomp\u00adson Memo\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal Library. This is where I con\u00adtin\u00adue writ\u00ading the new thing, or type in the first draft pages from a few days ear\u00adli\u00ader into the Neo2.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7892 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074-300x225.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074-904x678.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074-430x323.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2074.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/p>\n<p>Then, in the after\u00adnoon, I do my blue pen work on a dif\u00adfer\u00adent project. Cur\u00adrent\u00adly that project is a new Dako\u00adta novel\u2014a pre\u00adquel to the series\u2014which I hope to release by June. Some\u00adtimes I\u2019ll stay in the library or at home to do the blue-pen work, but more often than not I put the pages on a giant artist\u2019s sketch board and work on them in my car, parked by the Hud\u00adson Riv\u00ader, or, if it\u2019s a pleas\u00adant day I\u2019ll go to a park (Ben\u00adnett in Mill\u00adbrook, Poet\u2019s Walk in Rhinebeck, The Morse Estate in Pough\u00adkeep\u00adsie) and do the blue-pen work there.<\/p>\n<p>Notice that I put some dis\u00adtance of time dur\u00ading the day between the cre\u00adative work (first draft) and the edi\u00adto\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal work (lat\u00ader drafts). This is to pre\u00advent my inter\u00adnal cen\u00adsor or edi\u00adtor from rear\u00ading its crit\u00adi\u00adcal head ear\u00adly in the morn\u00ading, a phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon that invari\u00adably puts the kibosh on any cre\u00adative flow that might be try\u00ading to hap\u00adpen. I find I\u2019m able to pla\u00adcate my inter\u00adnal edi\u00adtor by telling it, \u201cDon\u2019t wor\u00adry, Mar\u00advin [my editor\u2019s name]\u2026you\u2019ll get to do your edit\u00ading stuff this after\u00adnoon. And you\u2019ll also get to edit what I\u2019m writ\u00ading now, but not for a long while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Con\u00advo\u00adlut\u00aded But Mag\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly Pro\u00adduc\u00adtive<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Is my writ\u00ading process, where I put off using the com\u00adput\u00ader as long as pos\u00adsi\u00adble, con\u00advo\u00adlut\u00aded? Yes, I have to admit, it is. But it\u2019s also been mirac\u00adu\u00adlous\u00adly pro\u00adduc\u00adtive. I\u2019ve been using this process, or a vari\u00ada\u00adtion of it, for almost 30 years.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7890\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062-768x1024.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062-904x1205.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062-500x667.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062-430x573.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062-300x400.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN2062.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since late 2012, when I pub\u00adlished the first Dako\u00adta Stevens mys\u00adtery, <em>A Real Piece of Work<\/em>, I\u2019ve put out eight books. Eight books in 5 years, or an aver\u00adage of one book every 7\u00bd months. And not eight ane\u00admic, hot\u00adhouse-grown 30K-word \u201cbooks\u201d that cer\u00adtain so-called <em>writ\u00aders<\/em> turn out every six weeks. The process I use ensures that my efforts are con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly direct\u00aded towards <em>qual\u00adi\u00adty<\/em>, and the pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal reviews I\u2019ve received have proved my process works for me.<\/p>\n<p>All right, now that I\u2019ve gone into great detail about my low-tech writ\u00ading process, let me briefly describe what I see as its great\u00adest ben\u00ade\u00adfits. One, by writ\u00ading using a vari\u00adety of tools and media (from pen, pen\u00adcil or type\u00adwriter, to blue pen, to word proces\u00adsor, to com\u00adput\u00ader), you get to see your words in a num\u00adber of dif\u00adfer\u00adent for\u00admats: on paper, com\u00adput\u00ader screen, etc. Two, using low-tech writ\u00ading meth\u00adods, espe\u00adcial\u00adly for the ear\u00adly drafts, ensures that you can cre\u00adate with a min\u00adi\u00admum of dis\u00adtrac\u00adtion. And three, by hand-writ\u00ading or typ\u00ading your words, hand-edit\u00ading the pages, and retyp\u00ading them, you are inter\u00adact\u00ading with your words over and over again, con\u00adstant\u00adly hon\u00ading and refin\u00ading them.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The<\/em><\/strong><strong> Way Doesn\u2019t Exist<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So there you have it: my low-tech writ\u00ading process. I should empha\u00adsize, how\u00adev\u00ader, that this is <em>my<\/em> process, devel\u00adoped over three decades. If you\u2019re a young or aspir\u00ading writer, you\u2019ll want to try your own process for a while. Get some expe\u00adri\u00adence doing things the \u201chigh-tech\u201d way, and then, when you learn that faster isn\u2019t nec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adi\u00adly bet\u00adter or more effi\u00adcient (and it cer\u00adtain\u00adly isn\u2019t less dis\u00adtract\u00ading), come over to the low-tech process.<\/p>\n<p>Over three decades, I\u2019ve seen a hell of a lot of writ\u00ading-relat\u00aded soft\u00adware pro\u00adgrams, tools, ref\u00ader\u00adence mate\u00adri\u00adals, web\u00adsites and \u201capps\u201d come and go, and the two lat\u00adest that I pre\u00addict will go the way of the dodo with\u00adin a few years are the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Astrohaus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Freewrite<\/a> \u201csmart type\u00adwriter\u201d and the online \u201capp\u201d Gram\u00admarly.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7882\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use-1024x521.jpg\" alt width=\"500\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use-1024x521.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use-300x153.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use-768x391.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use-904x460.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use-500x255.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use-430x219.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/freewrite-in-use.jpg 1660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\"><\/p>\n<p>(By the way, a mes\u00adsage to the folks at Gram\u00admarly: Please stop pre\u00adempt\u00ading my YouTube videos with your obnox\u00adious ads. I wish you clowns would dis\u00adap\u00adpear already; all you\u2019re doing is mak\u00ading peo\u00adple dumb\u00ader by absolv\u00ading them of the respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of learn\u00ading that \u201cpesky gram\u00admar stuff.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>As my super-tech-savvy friend Jason Scott likes to Tweet of cer\u00adtain inane prod\u00aducts, com\u00adpa\u00adnies or emerg\u00ading tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies, Freewrite and Gram\u00admarly are, in my opin\u00adion, \u201cDOOMED.\u201d I give them both two years, tops.<\/p>\n<p>The bot\u00adtom line is, while some writ\u00aders will spend their time argu\u00ading for all of these alleged\u00adly con\u00adve\u00adnient, \u201ctime sav\u00ading\u201d tools, apps, and such, and oth\u00aders will spend a lot of their time hold\u00ading out against the advance of tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy, seri\u00adous writ\u00aders like me are going to find a process that works for them, stick with it, and sim\u00adply keep pro\u00adduc\u00ading books.<\/p>\n<p>The philoso\u00adpher Niet\u00adzsche once wrote,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis is my way. What is your way? <em>The<\/em> way doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_7913\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7913\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7913\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304-1024x768.jpg\" alt width=\"900\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304-904x678.jpg 904w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304-430x323.jpg 430w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSCN1304.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7913\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author, now fin\u00adished work\u00ading for the day, is free to do what\u00adev\u00ader the hell he wants.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the first install\u00adment of this piece, I described the first half of my writ\u00ading process: Writ\u00ading the first draft in long\u00adhand or on a\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[407,30,17,3,5,22,23,7,76,68,10,26,13,14,233,15],"tags":[413,415,412,408,94,130,416,417,420,122,419,418,394,411,414,340,96,95,155,349,156,409,410,381,92,93,355,144],"class_list":["post-7876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alphasmart-neo","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-computersandsoftware","category-craft","category-helpfulsites","category-pencils","category-pens","category-personal","category-process","category-rewriting","category-technologyandinternet","category-typewriters","category-writers","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","category-writingtools","tag-alphasmart","tag-alphasmart-neo","tag-alphasmart-neo2","tag-blue-pen","tag-chris-orcutt","tag-editing","tag-freewrite","tag-freewrite-smart-typewriter","tag-grammarly","tag-hemingway","tag-hipster-affectation","tag-hipsters","tag-low-tech","tag-microsoft-word","tag-neo","tag-novel-writing-process","tag-novelist","tag-novels-2","tag-orcutt","tag-pencils","tag-process","tag-revision","tag-rewriting","tag-typewriters","tag-writers-2","tag-writing","tag-writing-life","tag-writing-tools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7876"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9167,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7876\/revisions\/9167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}