I have been asked to describe what the "writing process" is like. And while I could probably write a dissertation about what the writing process is like for me, I won't go that far5 because I have come to understand that the writing process is different and unique for every individual. Some writers come up with titles when they come up with ideas. Other writers almost never come up with titles and need assistance in finding one. Some writers write free hand from beginning to end, others may need a typewriter, while others may use a Dictaphone for their assistants to type. Some writers write the ending first and then work backwards from there. Through my metamorphosis, I've been through the gamut. I started by writing long-hand, graduated to an old Brother typewriter and eventually moved to a desktop. I wrote about a third of "Mine!" on a laptop but I much more prefer a desktop. I'm at home at a desktop. Like many writers, I attach titles to my stories upon conception. Sometimes they change but that is rare. I also come up with a fairly complete synopsis that I jot down on my list of ideas. That way I can always conceptualize the entire story from beginning to end--almost at a moment's notice. I've been blessed with the ability to "know" my stories. It's as if I 'forsee' them and then I simply document what I'm "seeing". While I have an overall idea what each of my stories entail, when I actually begin the writing process, I make notes and descriptions of all the major characters and then I write an outline with each point representing a chapter. As I write the story, I make sure that I stay very closely to the outline, covering only the points that I have detailed so I don't get ahead of myself which I have occasion to do. As for everything else in each chapter, especially character development and the introduction of new and secondary characters, that happens naturally as the story begins to define its own identity. It's a very fluid process. Sometimes it takes correction, sometimes things change direction--and that's all right as long as the bullet points for each chapter are fulfilled. It's what makes the process magical.