I once heard (or maybe read…it all blends together after a while) that it’s important for writers to get the story pieces & parts out of their heads and on paper, no matter how small or inconsequential or irrelevant we think they are at the time because when we get rid of the stuff running circles (think mouse on a treadmill) in our minds, we free up all that creative space for the really good stuff to come hit us. If we’re still thinking about the old stuff, the new stuff doesn’t have anywhere to plop in.
I didn’t really buy this at the time because I’m a mental “chewer”. Depending on the issue, idea or thought I get (not necessarily just from writing), it can literally be weeks that the same idea is floating around my brain for me to “chew” on during those quiet times. This is how I’ve often worked on stories in the past…just let it keep floating and fermenting.
But writing now the way I’ve written in the past isn’t working, so I decided to give this a try. I’ve got the notebook with me everywhere and every time something strikes me about the story I jot it down (or scribe it into the Palm for later use).
Talk about a flood of stuff coming out (yeah, I know I’m a writer and should use more description than “stuff” but it’s working for me). Every day –literally– something new is showing up in the brain radar about the story. Enough to keep me excited and focused on the multiple plotlines. In weird ways, I’m also sort of discovering solutions to problems I anticipated in the story. Like..as long as my brain keeps firing across those synaptic connections (Doc, that one is for YOU…lol), the story will solve itself.
Now, if I could just get it to WRITE itself I’d be rich…
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