As a writer I first thought the idea was to write and publish and get as much out there as possible. Right? Perhaps another pursuit as an artist and writer was to get better at your craft. Right? But, if you are committed to getting yourself out there and getting better at your craft then you are going to be repeating the process over and over, therefore your real intention might be said to be consciously concerned with how you do it.

YOUR PROCESS.

This is your personal formula that you will be constantly refining like some crazy chemist who talks to herself. Are you working on a different products each time? Or versions of the same one, who knows? But, you try things, you explore, you discover, you fluke-out, you borrow, you steal, you pick things up, you put them down, you hurl things, you hold on too tightly, you bring in others to help, you keep to yourself, you laugh, you cry, you abandon and return, you gestate, give birth and love your child until another calls your name. And, if you are extra smart you will take mental or physical notes on it all and what doesn’t work and what does, what’s a keeper.

Then, you celebrate your victories and feel satisfaction more and more and hopefully doubt yourself less and less. And, when you do doubt, you know what to do with it and how to use that doubt that you used to hate.  That is what you are really doing as a writer because unlike what we first thought, it’s all about process (nearly).

Kathrin Lake

Seven authors talk about their writing process in this video: