I'm having such a busy morning, and it's hindering my creative non-fiction writing ability. I am laughing to myself, because it's all tied in to what I've decided I'm going to write about. Ms. Smith can attest to this: none of the notebook entries I've written have really made it into my other writing (this blog, my essays). I have a difficult time with the notebook entries, honestly. It isn't the application of the entries -- I understand them and think they are a great resource. I've always got something to say, so if I give pause, I can write out one. But sometimes, I think I put too much into them. Some of my notebook entries I could probably turn around and post into this blog without any changes at all.

I don't rewrite proofs a lot. I never have. Like, for instance, my personal essay that I still need to start. I have it half written in a real paper notebook (I always start there), but it wasn't sitting well with me. I was thinking about it on the way to work this morning and got a completely different idea, out of the blue, and that's what I'm going to write the essay on, once I get the chance to start writing. And I'm working on it in my head, and have been since 7:30 this morning. I have it half written, already, in my head.

There's good to that: it seems like I'm a fountain of words. I start writing and probably fifteen to thirty minutes later, I'm finished, and really, not much changes from that. But the downside: I'm sure I lose stuff along the way. All of the shaping, and reshaping, is being down in my head, instead of from draft to draft to draft. Inevitably, I'm going to forget about something. That's why I know the notebooks are such important resources. I completely agree with that.

It's just so different than the way I do it, sometimes I have difficulty adjusting.

I write in my head, the words taking shapes like pictures, creating the story that needs to be written. I have all my main points there, lurking, waiting to come together when my fingers curl around a pen or fingertips click, click, click against the keyboard. Lay the foundation of the first main point and then zone out the slightest bit; the words really write themselves. They flow like water from my fingertips. It is a process I truly enjoy, something that I really would love to always do. There are constantly things going on in my head. They don't always make it to paper, but more often than not, they will somewhere. It really never takes much to inspire me, but I can't do much until the inspiration is there.