Hello Fellow Booksprinters. Yesterday as I was mentally finishing my Uruguay story for the BookSprint, while pulling weeds, I got to thinking about the writing process. I would like to share my thoughts with you. As some of you know, in addition to being a retired teacher and high school counselor, I also worked part time as a columnist and reporter for the local Ventura County Star, a part of the Scripps Howard chain. I have also had several travel articles published in magazines and travel sections of Sunday newspapers and wrote one of the chapters in Move Ons' book, "50 Ways To Love Your Country. Basically, I used two distinct methods of writing (and still do). As a reporter, I would be on a tight deadline, interviewing people onsite, scribbling an outline of the story on scratch paper, then cranking out what, usually, was a fairly interesting story. I always made sure I included the "5 W's and the H" and followed the AP Stylebook to a "T". Usually, I saved the lead paragraph for the last. Carefully crafting it to draw the reader in to what might otherwise be a rather ordinary story on an ordinary subject. After a quick read through by my favorite resident editor (my husband Ed), I would transmit it electronlcally to the newsroom. From there on it was out of my hands. Writing feature stories or a weekly "human interest" story was an entirely different matter. I like to compare it to having a baby. From concept(ion) to delivery, the process goes something like this: You still have to gather information and check the facts, but after that there is a period I like to call "incubation." During this time you are running over the story almost all your waking hours when you may be doing other things. You play with it in your mind. You look for slants and angles. You discard some ideas and expand on others. You play with words you might choose to use. At night, you fall asleep thinking about it. When you wake up, it is still there in your thoughts. When the story is ready, you sit down at your computer, and it writes itself. This may happen at any time, even in the middle of the night. It is best not to rush the process. When it is finished, let it rest for 24 hours, then be your own editor. Print it out and have your favorite in-house editor read it too. Put the final polish on it, and it is ready to go. >From then on, like a good parent, you have to let it go. Editors may need to >cut it to make room for something like a picture or an ad (in a newspaper). >You don't want to have the editor "pad" it, so it is better to write a little >"long" so it can be cut to fit. Sometimes what editors do to your story will make you want to cry, or at least cringe. I still can hear my Irish great-grandmother whirling in her grave when an editor changed my "St. Paddy's Day" feature to a "St. Patty's Day" story. Criminal! Hint to editors...check with your writers before you do anything drastic or your publication may lose some of its creditability! So why am I telling you all this now? It is just 9 days to the beginning of our Booksprint. There are lots of unclaimed feature story topics listed on our wiki without owners. You may have another compelling story you would like to tell that is not listed. (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Class_Acts/Table_of_contents) Don't wait until the BookSprint to get started! Claim your story, do your background research, get your concept, and start incubating! If the story is ready before September 6, so be it! Sit down and let it write itself. Oh, and if you happen to have an old copy of Strunk and White's "little book," The Elements of Style, laying around give it a quick read through. Your readers will love you for it! Have fun incubating! Caryl
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