A CONSISTENT WRITING PROCESS
- Bill

- May 17
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 4

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Because I've been asked about my writing process and because it's too windy dusty and cool outside for a bike ride, and because I've already walked the dog this morning, I've decided to share what I know about writing consistently, We've all been advised that 's the key to successful writing--to be disciplined, butts in the chair daily, make it a habit, etc., So this morning I've recorded my not unusual process for you.
First I had to get into my study. That was difficult because my blood sugar was dropping a couple hours after breakfast despite my having had a good breakfast after I took my insulin. So I had to get some juice to pump up my blood sugar and I watched the news on TV until it took effect. I overshot on my sugar intake and my blood sugar was high on my next read-out from the little sensor on my biceps so I did my tai chi exercises that I'd ignored this morning and then some weights and some knees on the ground push-ups, a few squats and sit-ups with weights.
My dog happened by and I noticed the little red ribbon that had been attached to her collar by the groomer had fallen off. It was a small red bow (very fetching) and I had to find my reading glasses in order to see well enough to snake a little wire through the bow and attach to her collar so it wouldn't fall off again. This took finding my reading glasses. Instead I found my distance glasses and they needed to be cleaned. There was some sort of recalcitrant goo on that took quite a while to get off. On my way to the study I noticed my new Mac Neo that I got a few days ago. I had trouble with it logging onto my router and that had taken a couple hours to fix, so now I opened it up to check my email and that worked beautifully so I decided I really had to get to my Writing. When I got to my study and tried to boot up my big Mac, for some reason that wasn't working too well; so I got my iPhone (which took a search of the kitchen and living room) and checked my email which worked fine and learned that everybody's computer storage and access had been transported to some new program that the university had installed overnight and who to talk to if you have any trouble logging in. Not wanting to do that I fiddled around and finally successfully logged in. For the past few days I've been wearing a Band-Aid on my left index finger which I blamed for some added difficulty for writing whenever I get to it. My finger has a Band-Aid on it because of when I was trying to open a vial of eyedrop solution that I need to put in my eye about four times a day after having some eye surgery two weeks ago for a detached retina. Trying to get the cellophane seal off the little cap I'd sliced the tip of my finger with a penknife and I've been re-injuring it because I've been failing to keep it covered with a Band-Aid that fits well enough so I won't tear open the slice of skin as I've only once done so far.
It took time for my sluggish computer to boot up so I ran the program that gets rid of unnecessary files that slow the response times on my computer. I needed to start a new file to tell you about my writing process and to do this I have to find my Word program which usually has a little app at the bottom of the screen. But this morning it wasn't there so I go back to my home page with all my apps displayed and don't see a Word icon. I find an old Word file, double click on that, open up a new file, and start to type but am annoyed by an old problem: Any new file I start to work on has every word with a strikethrough. Though I've used AI to solve the problem, nothing works. So now I just select the entire file I'm working on and then go to the little strike-through icon at the top of the word page and click that to turn off all the strikethrough in the lines that I've typed.
One more thing. Since my index finger is working poorly while typing, I decided to use the dictation to print feature on Word. This requires a bit of a learning curve for me. Here is one of at least half a dozen intricacies: The immoveable little blinking item that shows that I'm using voice dictation currently is in the middle of where I want my typescript to appear. Another is when I dictate "while" it comes out "quail". Consistently. Time for lunch
It's certainly good for me to have had an opportunity to offer you my thoughts, but now I look up I see that it is 5:30 PM and time to walk the dog again.
I hope this is enough to help you get to your writing consistently. Just an update-- my finger is healing well and the red bow attachment on my dog's collar seems to be doing the job.




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