Writing Without Writing

The talented and humorous Jonathan Tropper has written an original essay for the blog at Powell's Books about his writing.

From the piece...

When I'm out on book tour, at every reading, someone will invariably ask me about my process. The question is asked by writers and non-writers alike. What's your typical day like? Do you write better in the morning or at night? Do you work from home or an office? Do you start with a character or a premise?

I try my best to answer these questions in as coherent and helpful a manner as possible, but the truth is, I'm simply not the writer to ask. I do wake up early, but that's because I have young children, not because I'm rising with the sun to write. I can't work in my house because I'm devoid of any semblance of discipline and I'll end up changing light bulbs or watching television or playing the piano or cleaning out my desk. I don't have a typical day, because of said lack of discipline. Without structure, I'm worthless, so I try to treat it like a regular job, get to my desk by nine and put in a full day. But the muse won't always cooperate and she will never be coerced. Sometimes she'd rather take a nap, or see a mid-afternoon movie.the muse won't always cooperate and she will never be coerced. Sometimes she'd rather take a nap, or see a mid-afternoon movie.

But, in retrospectively considering the creative trajectory of my last few novels, I've discerned a repeating pattern embedded in the chaos, the same heartwrenchingly serpentine path to completion. And in that pattern can be found the unintentional blueprint of my "process."