Writing as a Visual Process

April showers bring May flowers. And weeds. I thought I had all of them dug up, but this morning when I opened my curtains...

But, I'm happy to see the overcast skies and rain today. I will be writing a dark scene today, so the weather will help to set the mood. Writing for me is a solitary, meditating, and visual process. If the scene I'm writing is different from the view from my window, then I close my eyes to visualize. I believe that's why I can't write with music or other noises distracting me. I need absolute quiet. Scenes for me play out like a movie in my head.

On Saturday, I attended a meeting with my writing group and the speaker presentation, by Sandy James, was entitled "Are You Insane?" She explained the various nuances of mental illnesses like schizophrenia, personality disorders, and anxiety illnesses. One thing she made very clear was not to trust what you see in the movies or on television. While sometimes they get it right, more often they don't. The villain I'm writing now, I wanted to make sure to "get right" and her talk gave me some great insight to forge ahead.

So, now it's time to close down the internet and get busy writing!

"Mood" Writing

Just looked at the clock and realized the morning is nearly gone! I've managed to take a shower and shampoo my hair. Since it's getting longer I usually let it partially air dry before attacking it with a hot air curling brush. Um, well, it's going to be a bad hair day. I look a bit like a clown with fuzzy hair. I doubt my curling brush will even go through this mop.

I still need to hop on the treadmill to get my morning exercise in before it's time to do the afternoon exercise. Yeah, it's not shaping up to be a good day. I'm thinking about putting it off and doing a full hour later this afternoon after I cram my hair under a ball cap.

Top that off with the dark, dreary skies and no sign of sunshine. Yuck! My mood is not the greatest. I think I'll pull up my book and write a dismal scene. It's the only good thing I can think to salvage out of this day. I call it "mood" writing.

Curtains opened, fingers on keyboard, go!