Where Writers Work

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Heather McCorkle

Get coffee.

Research.

Drink coffee. 

Delete all evidence of said research so law enforcement doesn’t come after me. 

Drink coffee. 

Outline my chapters. 

Get more coffee. 

Research characters’ backgrounds.

Drink coffee. 

Outline character arcs. 

Drink coffee.

Start drafting. 

Make coffee.

Write rough draft, sometimes by hand, sometimes on my laptop.

Set it aside. 

Drink all the coffee.

Edit rough draft for content and arcs (both story and characters). 

Make coffee. 

Line edit entire manuscript. 

Drink coffee while cursing the difficulty of the English language. 

Read aloud edit the entire manuscript.

Drink coffee. 

Send manuscript to beta readers.

Try not to drink coffee so I don’t email them in the middle of the night. 

Read beta feedback.

Let it simmer. 

Drink coffee. 

Apply beta feedback.