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I'm not actually talking about children, I'm talking about manuscripts. Most writers consider each one their baby, and while each one being different seems an obvious statement, I'm not talking about plot or characters, I'm talking about the HOW of each book I've written.

I know a lot of authors who say they have a system that goes pretty much like this: premise, characterization, research, world-building, plot outline...and then on to the actual writing. They use tools such as storyboards, charts, notebooks, post-its, folders filled with pictures of people and places, etc.

I agree that planning is key to getting a book completed, and most importantly, completed by your due date. However I do very little of the above. I do keep a notebook for my research so I've got a handy guide to refer back to. This has been particularly helpful with the current WIP, OUTRAGEOUSLY YOURS, where both the hero and heroine are dabbling in the Victorian sciences (not my forte, but fun!). I also always have a notebook for scribbling scene details and characters traits. But my physical "props" pretty much end there. A good thing? Not for everybody, but I've always felt that setting up charts, etc. would take so much time, when would I write?

So where does the variable come in? As I mentioned above, the how. DARK OBSESSION, actually written years ago and majorly revised before it sold, was written on my desktop because at the time that's all I had. DARK TEMPTATION emerged almost entirely from my laptop. My March 2010 book, MOST EAGERLY YOURS, was tapped into being very roughly and quickly on my AlphaSmart, then rewritten primarily on the desktop. OUTRAGEOUSLY YOURS so far is a product of my desktop only. I've tried using the laptop - especially last week when my power went on the fritz for over an hour. But the results just weren't the same.

I'm not sure why I jump around like this. It's not that I haven't figured out which method works best for me. It's that each method has worked best for its respective project, whereas I felt in my gut that doing it any other way simply wouldn't. Does that make sense?

I'm not sure if it's a concentration thing, or a discipline thing (as in I sometimes need the discipline of sitting at a desk, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I need the stream of consciousness method that naturally arises with an AlphaSmart). Looking back, I wonder if it isn't the tool per se, but what might have been going on in my life and my state of mind at the time.

Last year at this time, when I was banging away at the AlphaSmart for MOST EAGERLY YOURS, the country was flipping on its side financially and things were kind of topsy turvy for me personally as well. I guess my mind couldn't wrap itself around fine details until much later, when I did my rewrites in the spring. This fall has been much more tranquil for me, and this book seems to be coming along swimmingly, and hopefully without a lot of rewrites later (fingers crossed!). I'm presently a much happier writer, but I haven't figured out why the desktop and not the laptop. The bigger screen?

Do you have a tried and true method, or do your moods affect the manner in which you write?

Oh, and while we're at it, seeing John Hodgman over the weekend prompts me to also ask, PC or Mac?