Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
As a matter of fact, I do. It was a short story titled 'Dark Glasses', about a homeless man who finds a pair of, what else, dark glasses. He puts them on and everything that's going on around him changes; the weather, the people walking by - but the time of day remains the same. He happens to be standing near a newstand and realizes by looking at the papers that when he puts the glasses on, he can see exactly 24 hours into the future.
A couple of years ago, I was cleaning out some old file folders and came across the first 3 pages of the story (which, if I remember correctly, was 6 or 7 in its original incarnation). That story, heavily rewritten some 30 years after the original, became the lead story in my first release, "Dark Glasses and Other Tales".
What is your writing process?
Ha! My writing process is a textbook case of 'How Not to Do It". I have a terrible habit of constantly correcting, adjusting, adding as I go. Most writers I know write straight through (pretty much, anyway) the first draft, then go back and start fixing it, sometimes a dozen times or more. I write, rewrite, spell-check, everything on the first go-round. I still go back afterwards and edit and rewrite, but a lot of the 'lesser' errors (spelling errors, punctuation, repeated words) are already fixed (mostly!). Once I'm done, I format the manuscript into a book template and order a proof copy. When I get the proof, I go through it carefully with my trusty red pen and find as many errors as I can. Then I fix all the problems I've found and order another proof copy. Usually by the third or fourth proof, I'm satisfied and the book is released through my own darkglassespublishing.
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