Earlier this week, I was on a Zoom call with some fellow writers. We were discussing how our writing output was doing during the pandemic: whether it was fine or (for most of us) had gone down.
And I realized: I've basically retooled my entire process during these last few months.
I used to write mostly on evenings and weekends, but now I do it in the morning, before the day even starts.
I used to write in blocks of a few hours at a time.
Now I do it in short thirty-minute bites.
I used to write a scene or a story straight through, from start to finish.
Now I jump around, filling in sections a little bit at a time, and then join them up later.
And the biggest change of all: I used to mostly pants my stories, but now I'm doing a lot of plotting and outlining before I set anything down.
Will it last once we're able to leave our homes safely? Who knows?
I might go back to the old way of writing. I might never be able to write that way again.
But it amazes me all the same, that little by little, my process has changed so much, in so short a time.
What about you? Has your process stayed the same through the pandemic? Or have you had to re-learn how to make your art, in order to keep working?
