J.K. Rowlings is working on her final Harry Potter book. The newspaper had an article about her in it. She was having a hard time finding paper to write her story in her town. She writes her books first in longhand and this was an obstacle she was complaining about. No normal lined paper. It took her forty-five minutes to find a place that sold some and she lives in Edinburgh where there is an university.
That article got me thinking about the different ways people write their books–at least their first draft. I used to years and years ago write my first draft longhand then type it using a typewriter. When computers first came out, I didn’t think I could compose a book on a computer. Now I don’t think I could do it the other way. Occasionally I will write a page or two longhand or some of the revisions but usually most is done on the computer (not a laptop–I don’t like the keyboard–uncomfortable to me).
So how do you write your book? Your first draft–longhand? Computer? Laptop? A combination of those? Do you dictate into a recorder? I believe Barbara Cartland did that or she dictated to a secretary. I’ve forgotten which way exactly. Or do you use an electric typewriter? Which way gets your creative juices flowing the best? Because we need all the help we can get when writing a book. We don’t want the method to be the reason we are blocked.
