How do you write?

[Amy Z]

Interesting question!

I don't write fiction, HP or otherwise.  I write a great deal of 
nonfiction for work and some for pleasure.

My favorite part of writing is the brainstorming, which I almost 
always do longhand and is less writing than it is diagramming.  I 
scribble ideas and put arrows to connected ideas, examples, etc.  Once 
I have about a page full of these scribblings, some kind of shape has 
emerged and I can write a more or less logical essay from them.

The rest I can do on the computer, although I've noticed I've been 
doing more and more of it just longhand lately.  

My biggest block as a writer seems to be a tendency to edit as I go.  
It's hard for me to write a draft and treat it as such; I tend to go 
back over each sentence trying to make it perfect.  Whatever I can do 
to loosen this up really helps, as it is quite paralyzing.

Amy Z