Can a mere mortal do it too?

[DeskOfMyOwn]

"I don’t write in sequence. I may have a dozen versions of a single scene."
This is Hilary Mantel. The quote I mean. Does anyone on here write like this? Not that I'm calling you mere mortals, only me.

It could be a glorious way for me to procrastinate (even more). But it could be worth a try.

can't did you end up having a productive day?

[Get] , thanks for asking. I did a few chunks that weren't connected to each other but it was flowing so I let it. I am working on tidying it today, It was your tip to write every day that got me going. I have chosen a low target -200 because of work, kids etc. and yesterday was a total write off-out for lunch and too much wine in the sunshine 😃 but at least I've made a start! How is your screenplay coming along?

Often being stuck is a sign something hasn't quite been mulled over enough and isn't ready.

This is certainly true for me. While I'm no fan of Zadie Smith's writing, I'm another who endlessly rewrites the beginning to get the tone and voice, though - presumably unlike ZS - this sometimes happens belatedly after a few drafts, when I finally grasp where I should have been heading all along and say Ah, gotcha.

I don't generally write out of sequence in any major way, because I wrote an earlier (now in a drawer) multi-voiced novel with a timescheme of 20 years that way and ended up tying myself into horrendous knots over who knew what/how was X's relationship with Y in Year Z/how pregnant was W/how old was little T, which involved time-consuming rewrites when I realised I'd misculculated. A more organised or planning type would have less of an issue, though!

GetA - smiling to discover I'm not the only one who writes at the soft play (or used to - DS is now too old for it).

It doesn't have to be washing up, btw - I quite often rough out scenes in my head/fill in gaps in the plot while cycling too and from work (the bits on the cycle path... I do pay attention on the actual road ).

I am not a proper writer - I write fanfic (just starting to rough out a real novel now), but even at my rubbish level (one of my friends calls it "writing with the training wheels on"), it's still a matter of write, write, write some more. I've got over 30 pieces up there on the web now, ranging in length from 1000 words to 100K plus "novels", so probably more than 500K in total, and the difference in my writing between now and when I started is immense, and like any other skill, it's just down to practice.