In March 2016 I wrote a short blog post for the Elwood Writers website, part of a series of contributions from each group member about our various writing methods. My piece looked at some of the reasons I write short fiction, the way I write, and how I structure my working days. I revisited the original article last year, and was interested to note that nothing about the way I work had changed in the intervening six years. I tweaked the article a bit and asked Maggie Frisch at Working Writer in the US if they’d be interested in the piece for their bi-monthly publication. I’m thrilled to hear that it’s been printed in the Mar/Apr 2023 issue.
Writing isn’t just a physical process of working with words on a page. It’s the creative and percolative activity that goes on in the spaces. In other words, the work also happens while walking, reading, daydreaming, riding the bike, poking around, or what-have-you.
from ‘A Writing Framework’, Working Writer.
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Happy reading and writing and what-have-you.
‘A Writing Framework’ is published in Working Writer Mar/Apr 2023 (Vol. 25 No. 2).
Barry Lee Thompson 
Such an interesting piece, Barry — and so true — we are writing most of the time.
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Thanks for reading, Jenny. Yes, it’s definitely full-time work, isn’t it. Maybe we’re writing all the time!
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Congratulations, Barry. Such an interesting read. That final paragraph resonated particularly with me, so beautifully said.
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Thanks very much for reading and commenting. I’m so glad you felt that resonance. I think that when we write we’re reaping untold benefits beyond the tangible.
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I’m just returning to a regular pattern of writing again after an hiatus that seems to have lasted for a couple of years (though it hasn’t, I just don’t really credit all the scratches and fragments with no underlying discipline). The return has me thinking about my process and refining it mostly through observing what happens naturally. Your article is helpful and timely. Thanks very much Barry.
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Thanks so much for reading, Chris. I’m really glad that you found this helpful. Sometimes those hiatuses are as necessary to our writing as the periods we spend at the keyboard. And the ‘scratches and fragments’ can, over time, add up to something quite substantial.
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Here’s hoping and believing in scratches and fragments. Thanks Barry!
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Love that percolative activity Barry, surrounding the actual words we write.
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