But ... How do you write?

Been a long time. Je suis un Blogger terrible!  Forgive?

Merci.

Anyways, recently I was speaking to a friend of mine and I casually mentioned that I write.

Friend: Write-write?

Me: Uh ... like, no - not sure what you mean?

Friend: Like ... books?

Me: Yeah, or at least I try. 

Friend: Cool. But, like, how?

Me: How what?

Friend: How do you, like, you know, write? 

Me: Uh ... I just write?

Friend: (after long pause) That's pretty cool.

And although I seemed to handle that conversation super well, the thought struck me: How do I write? Not in the grammatical learning third grade days, but more - what is my process? 

And I realized that I break my own process all the time.

Here's what happens:

(1) Brilliant idea springs to mind. 

(2) Write out the whole layout of the book in point form sentences that include a lot of sarcastic (but witty!) remarks.

(3) Start the actual writing. 

(4) Get caught up in the story and keep writing. 

(5) Get distracted, lose my place, consult the layout ... and realize the story is now so different there is no way back short of quantum leaps or mysteriously reborn characters ...

(6) Revise Layout, and repeat.

The Process-Breaking-Process seems to work for me. I like my revisions better every time my story veers off the layout. I think, in a sense, the story begins to have a momentum and life of its own, and that’s reflected in the mad writing that ensues. 

I mean, as long as you’re writing, is there really a wrong process? I don’t think so. 

How do you write?