What Kind of Writer are YOU? (A poll)

Be sure to say that with incredulity and add just a note of disgust on that last word. It's how we all HEAR the question, anyway...

Oh, we're ALL mad here!

But what brings this on?

I've been hanging out over at ABNA... it is what I DO in January after all (besides go hungry). I like to get to know my fellow contestants... there are old friends and new acquaintances... and there are some discussions that cause me to... observe stuff.

Stuff??? You say? What KIND of stuff?

First, before I say anything, I need to shout out the big disqualifier... none of these observations makes one type of writer better or worse. It is ALL just an observation about the different ways we can BE... we are not all alike, much as we are more like each other than we are like non-writer types.

But I notice:

Some writers are so attached to ONE BOOK... Same book entered year after year. And I wonder... do they write other books, or have they just been perfecting THIS book?

This is not unrelated to the 'won't take on the next until this one is published'.

And then there are folks like me, who must seem very short-attention spanned... entering my 4th book in 4 years and year 1 I entered book 1, but this year am entering #10...


What this MEANS, is some writers focus on ONE BOOK until it is totally polished, finished and OUT THERE.

Do you suppose this helps?

OTHERS write a book, set it aside to work on something else, set THAT aside to work on a 3rd thing, then come back to the first thing. Know what I am? I'm a ROTATOR!

Still others work SIMULTANEOUSLY on a couple projects (writing two at once)--now I've done this—back in the day I was writing my first book and still writing fan fiction—but I can't do it anymore, though I CAN write one and polish another.


I've ALSO noticed some people write slow and clean and some people write fast and dirty (this would be me) and some people write slow and dirty, and SOME LUCKY BASTARDS write fast and clean.


And some people dive straight into editing, while others let it sit... Some share parts of their book right away, others wait until the book is done (maybe even edited—here is where I raise my hand again) to share.

So how do YOU do it?

Fast or slow?
Dirty or clean?
One at a time, multiple or rotating?
Can you edit right away, or do you need to set it aside?
Publish or die or do you go on to next project and wait to come back to it?

And to put this all in context:

Do you outline/timeline/ or pants?
How many books have you written?
How many YEARS have you been writing since you got serious?
What genre do you write?