Process

I need to write with blue Bic biros

My article for the Mapping the Change - Hackney Legacy project has been submitted.  I wrote a long feature article, that incorporated elements of both an interview and an opinion piece. 

Once I'd done the interview with Eton Mission Rowing Club, I knew that the final stage of the process was about to start - actually sitting down and writing the article.  This is the stage I am always most confident about - because it just involves me and some pens and some paper.  Nobody else needs to get involved, and whatever else is going on with me or the rest of the family, I can pretty much always make an hour or more at a time to write.

I make a plan of the article first - usually as a mind map.  I decide what I want to say, and what I must make sure I include.  Then I write a first draft - always longhand with my pen of choice and some nice paper.  This first draft looks very scrappy, with much crossed out, extra words added in the margins, new paragraph marks, underlinings and arrows everywhere.

The second draft is usually typed into Word, and then I print it out and leave it alone for a few hours or a few days - as much as I have time for.  When I come back to it, I read it through, marking the pages with any corrections I want to make, or anything that needs to be cut or expanded.  Once again the pages are covered with arrows, crossings out and underlinings.

Then I type it up into the final version, put it aside once more if I can, and then do a very final read through before I send it off.  This is how I've written for years, and it works very well for me, but I do need to build in plenty of time for all the drafts and re-reading that I like to do.