Your creative brain is your biggest asset as a writer. Nurture it!
I believe there are two quite separate parts of the brain that we use in writing (and there is some science to back this up).
- There is the LOGICAL, CRITICAL, ANALYTICAL brain. This part of the brain is useful. It helps us to order and structure our words so that other people can understand them. This is the part of the brain that is often being encouraged in classrooms: “What is this part of speech known as?”; “Why does 10 + 10 come to 20?”; “Why does ice melt in the sunshine?”
- Then there is the CREATIVE brain. It’s quite shy! It comes up with pretty good ideas, normally when you least expect it. Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night with a great idea? Or gone to bed worrying about a problem and got up in the morning with a clear idea of how to tackle it? That’s because your creative brain is mostly your subconscious brain at work!
It’s interesting that both of these big ideas came as the great men were relaxing…
Does that mean you can only get good ideas when you are relaxed? no! But it certainly helps to be relaxed when you are trying to get good ideas...
So, when I am trying to come up with new ideas…
I let my mind wander.
I try not to censor my ideas.
I tell myself that no idea is a silly idea.
Coming up with story ideas is not like looking for a perfect finished idea, it’s about getting a spark of something I can work with.
It’s about giving myself permission to experiment.
And giving myself permission to make mistakes.
What can you do to 'trick' your creative mind into showing up?
Writing is a bit like painting or drawing, making music or any creative endeavour…
- it takes PRACTICE and PERSEVERANCE
- it helps to establish a HABIT
One way to do this is to set aside a certain amount of time on a regular basis. That’s the commitment part of the deal.
But what happens in that time? Well, that comes back to the section above. The deal I have with myself is that I write – but I DON’T censor or correct it until my writing time is up.
So, here is my challenge for you...
Can you set aside maybe even just ten minutes a day to establish your own writing habit?
Can you write without censoring yourself or correcting yourself… just keep the pen moving the whole time?
Chose your topic before you sit down and if you can’t think of anything in particular, maybe just write an account of your day or how you felt about something that has happened.
Have a special notebook you always use so you can look back on it and feel proud that even on the days you didn’t feel like it… even on the days when what you wrote seemed to make no sense… It all came from you and a little promise to yourself to write for ten minutes every day, completely uncensored…
If you found this helpful, check out my other writing tips and find out more about me and my work here.