Guest Post: The Timely Writing Process by E.E. (Gene) Williams

Please welcome author E. E. Williams back to the blog today. This is not the first time he has discussed his writing process as he did so in this post last July. After you read the post today, make sure you also check out his post from last August which was an excerpt from his book, My Grave is Deep: A Noah Green Mystery.

 

The Timely Writing Process by E.E. (Gene) Williams

A throng of people has asked me about my writing process.

By throng, I mean, um, me. I ask myself about the process each morning when I look in the mirror and wonder who the heck that old man is? What are all those wrinkles and those suitcases under the eyes and the jowls and the gray hair and all that stuff growing out of that his nose and ears and … ?

Sorry.

Anyway, the ancient dude asks what my writing process is and would I like to share it with others, like those nice folks at the Short Mystery Fiction Society. To which I say, absolutely!

So here goes.

First thing in the morning, I grab my computer, turn it on and go make breakfast. After I finish eating, I sit in my easy chair, place my computer on my lap and turn on the TV. I check Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Prime Video, and PBS for anything worth watching while I write. I find a movie and begin watching. In the meantime, I call up Yahoo and read a couple dozen stories on the computer as the film plays in the background. I miss something important in the movie and rewind. It happens again, and once more I rewind and then figure I might as well start it over because the characters are speaking French and my knowledge of the language extends to Oui, Oui. I finish with Yahoo and move to Collider, followed by Entertainment Weekly, followed by Screenrant, followed by The Hollywood Reporter, and, finally, Movieweb.

Thus mentally stimulated, I type the word IT. Then the word WAS. Then the letter A.

Exhausted, I break for a snack. Two hours later, having consumed two giant chocolate chip cookies, a bag of peanut M&Ms, a tub of Cool Whip, and a 24 vanilla Oreos, I return to the computer. I type DARK … and break for lunch.

I drive to Publix and pick up popcorn chicken and return home. Realize that I forgot to get Diet Coke and return to Publix. Come back home. Realize it slipped my mind that I have a prescription ready at Publix and get back in the car again. Return home. Eat lunch. Sit back down at the computer. Type AND.

Fingers stiff and sore, I put the computer down, watch another movie, this one in Spanish (Si, Si) and fall asleep in my chair. I dream of writing a novel.

When I awake a few hours later, it dawns on me that I haven’t yet done the laundry. More hours later the clothes are washed, dried, folded, and put away.

During this time, my mind has been working furiously, overtime really, to determine the direction of my story. A lightbulb blinks on. I have it. I rush to the computer and type the words, STORMY NIGHT. Add an exclamation point. Add a second. Hit the paragraph return.

And … that’s it. Time to make dinner. After that, find some Scandinavian mystery with subtitles that I haven’t watched before.

At 8:15, it’s time for bed where I’ll dream of writing the next best-selling novel.

It may take some time.

E.E. Williams, aka Gene, is the author of three Noah Greene mysteries. The fourth Greene novel will be published … sometime. 

E. E. Williams ©2021 

E.E. Williams is a former journalist who worked at some of the country's best and biggest newspapers. A 1971 graduate of Kent State University, he published in 2002 his first Noah Greene novel, Tears In The Rain. His second novel, Tears of God, was published in 2014. The third Noah Greene thriller, My Grave Is Deep, was published last year.