Daily Archives: October 28, 2010

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Incubating and the Writer’s Cave

October 28, 2010 by in category Archives tagged as ,

I tend to be reluctant to sit down in front of the keyboard to write until the deadline is breathing down my neck. I always thought this was procrastination, but I read an article a little while ago that makes me realize that I’m not a procrastinator. I’m an incubator.

What’s an incubator? Someone who thinks about the story for a long time—incubating it—until it’s ready to come out in one huge burst. My subconscious works on the story as I go about my ordinary life, as if I’ve put a stew on the back burner to simmer and am adding ingredients to it all day long. Then suddenly the stew is done and the story needs to get on the page. That’s when I crawl into my writer’s cave, sit down and start writing. Am compelled to write, just like contractions compel a mother to push during childbirth.

The writer’s cave is more mental than physical, though it does help to have a physical space where you can retreat to get the work done. This might be an office or corner in your home or maybe somewhere like Starbucks or the bookstore or wherever works for you. It helps if the cave is the same physical space every time, signaling your brain that when you go there, it’s time to write. I also end up clearing my calendar of all optional social engagements so I can just crawl into the cave without fear of interruption and give birth to my story.

I would love to be one of those people who plot out a book and then sit down every day and write X number of pages or such-and-such a scene, but that isn’t how I work. I need all those weeks to let the story form in my mind so it comes out organically in one long burst. Once I reach that point, I am able to accomplish a substantial amount of pages per day. Since the story is fully formed, I also tend to do very little rewriting before I send in the book. This is what works for me. It’s my process. What’s yours?

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A Fantasy Life by Janet Quinn Cornelow

October 28, 2010 by in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as ,

I would like to say that I have been writing and working on my new fantasy romance. That would be stretching things. I had planned on writing last Saturday because I had cleared everything that needed to be done. Then my youngest and his wife showed up. That ruined the rest of my plans. I ended up fixing the dinner and settling some other problems. Needless to say I got no writing done.

Life has been a bit upside down, so I don’t know how much writing I will be getting done. My day job that I have had for 12 years has gone bankrupt and we will be closing December 18 unless someone buys my boss out. That probably isn’t going to happen. It is really sad. I really like my job and will miss my babies (my students).

I have been teaching on line for the last three years and have found a second place to teach. Of course that means training for four weeks. It starts November 1 and goes into December because we get Thanksgiving week off. That will take the up any extra time I have because I still have to show up at work and teach my other classes. I figure the training won’t be that bad since it is basically the same thing I do now. The polices are a bit different, but the actual teaching is the same.

The good news is that Michael, my middle son, and his wife are having a baby, so I will finally be a grandmother in May. The baby is due around Mother’s Day so I figure I won’t be seeing them this year, but that is okay. I’m excited about being a grandma. Of course, I won’t be taking the baby around since I don’t carry too well, but I figure by the time the baby’s walking, I can get seatbelts installed on the walker so he or she doesn’t fall off.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving since this is my last blog until then.

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