Very few good paragraphs come to me while I am sitting at my computer. Of course that’s necessary, but usually the ideas come while I am walking the dog or doing the dishes. Then I rush over to a pad of paper or my computer and take some notes.
Because I have a dog, I end up at the river or a local park every day, just throwing a ball and watching her chase it down. It’s during these times that my book often comes together. A new chapter or a new thought will come to me when I get my body moving.
If you’re stuck with your book, don’t hesitate to get up and clean the house. Just make sure you’re still alone and still able to continue thinking. Taking a walk with a friend might work but you’d really only be able to talk about your project. You’re still writing, even though it looks like you’re taking a break or doing something else. Stay in the writing project, but get your body moving to dislodge some of those new words.
On a typical writing day, I’ll walk the dog five or six times, and each time I come back to the computer with momentum. Who says writing isn’t physical?
Don – Nice post. Your posts that move us from consumer/critic to creator are some of your best – Thank you. As an Enneagram Type 5, I am sure you have read of the brain studies that have been done to support your comments. If not, let me know, and I will be glad to send some over. See you in June for Storyline… [ I'll be the one in the audience with old school pen/paper - no Air or tablet... got my own behavioral reasons for going old school ]
Don,
I definitely have my best thoughts when I’m jogging. I don’t run miles and miles, but even if I go for a 10-minute run I seem to have a clarity that didn’t exist before the run.
Of course, for me it goes back to what Steven Pressfield says in “The War of Art”: “There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.”
I just started a blog a couple of weeks ago and it has been liberating. I talked about it for the past couple of years, but after reading The War of Art, I just decided to do it – in all its imperfections. Will I find a voice? Who know…and really who cares. It’s about doing something I’ve not done before.
Thanks for your insightful and encouraging thoughts!
Just looked up War of Art and I’m ordering it now. Sounds like just what I need. Thanks for mentioning it.
You are so right Don. For me, I jump on the elliptical machine. The ideas flow when you get away from everything.
thanks for the tips and inspiration. i have many drafts all over my computer and can never seem to write. either ideas aren’t coming to me,…or i’m just procrastinating too much. since i don’t have my dog anymore,(had to give him away when we moved.) i’ll clean and write. and thank you again.
Very true!
Yes, yes! It’s percolation! I wrote my dissertation on Saturdays and spent the rest of the week just thinking. Things needed to brew.
You always have good stuff to say.
Thanks
Wow. Don, thank you so much.
I am enjoying coming to your blog page so much. Your writing is so affirming to my own life. Thank you.
After years as a songwriter, I found lyrics coming to me most often on the 101 freeway in LA and while walking Runyon Canyon (a hike up in the Hollywood Hills). I’ve been known to go up to strangers and borrow their cell phones to call my own voicemail and leave myself messages with lyrics or ideas while on the top of the canyon. (For some reason when my phone was with me I never got as inspired
).
Anyway, as a want-to-be “real” writer this actually gives me a sound approach and matches my temperament.
Very little seems to just come to me from thinking. As much as I have desired the idea of sitting in my room, alone, day after day being divinely inspired, that has rarely gotten me anywhere… but depressed and massively self absorbed… a master at fantasy, but not so much reality. So… Like your previous blog spoke of, it is like God works through us while we’re doing something else… engaged in life, INCONVENIENCED by life and relationships. Living simpley, presently.
I love my amazing friends today for this. For inconveniencing me with their love.
I really like the advice though, that while writing stay with the stillness within- plugged in, engaged with activity, but not distracted in conversation. That is very helpful.
I’m finishing the draft to my second short film this morning and and then off to do a table read this afternoon. Yay! But first, going for a walk in this drizzly Cali morning, get close with God and see what new ideas come to the table.
Thank you so much. Great to be here with you and all who are reading and commenting. It feels purposeful and inspiring to be engaged with like minded others in conversation. Many blessings and appreciation.
I work as a janitor, and I’m also a university student. I’ve found those hours and hours of mindless work alone in quiet, dark buildings to be a giant blessing for writing inspiration and mulling over essays that I’m writing. And yes I have learned to keep paper and pen handy and take the time to pause in my work and take notes when something comes. Otherwise it’s gone, or a mere shadow of itself, by the time I sit down to write after work or the next day.
Do these principles apply to those writing up a Ph.D chapter that is due next week?! I could do with the excuse of walking a dog right now…
I was once acquainted with a Chinese professor who said, without the long walks on the beach, he would never have been able to produce his own Ph.D. thesis. He earned his Ph.D. in the U.S., but he really got started on his career path by working in one of the few university laboratories in Beijing that was never shut down during the Cultural Revolution.
However, however, however, keeping your nose to the grindstone has a way of getting things done.
Both are different facets of the same gem.
Make your deadline. When you do, you will get feedback.
When stuck, I like to recall what Stephen Wilbers said in “Keys to Great Writing”: Remember, the editing is fun.
What kind of dog? My wife and I had a great rottie as newlyweds, and were afraid we wouldn’t love our children as much if and when they arrived. In some ways, those fears were justified. There is an unconditional love from a loyal dog that just doesn’t naturally spring from people.
5-6 walks a writing day? My dog is officially jealous of your dog.
Thanks for the affirmation – my dogs get more exercise when I’m writing than any other time!!
Thanks for the coaching. I find that I get great ideas in the car, even in the middle of traffic, but your approach is much healthier and will relieve my sore bottom.
Now if only I had a dog to walk…
In all seriousness, I think this is an excellent point to make. When I had established the habit of a solitary daily walk, with or without my ipod, I would often come up with ideas or simply be inspired to continue a tedious project. Being outside and moving your body does wonders for the brain & the soul.
I think 90% of what I’d consider the good stuff that I’ve written has come from exactly what you’re talking about – alone, walking, usually with the dog.
I weep at all the ideas lost over the years because I didn’t write down notes immediately when I got back home.
I did this the other day! I was struggling with the final section and conclusion of an essay I was working on, so I walked about a mile to Subway for dinner and walked home. Felt SO much more energized when I got home.
So true. I find walking the stairs at work is a great tonic.
I totally agree. I use running as a creative tool in my job every week. It allows me to unhook my brain and allow the creative thoughts come pouring in. I’m not sure where they come from, but they seem to just pop in there when you stop thinking about anything. I’ve often recommended this kind of physical activity as a tool to creativity. Great to see it working for you too!
Gardening/weeding does it for me.
Don, my question to you is how to make writing possible for an everyday person. You are fortunate enough to be an accomplished writer and can take time to write with the expectation of getting paid for your work. I am young and interactive with others my age, and also work 35+ hours a week. So any advice for me to pursue greater writing outcomes without making it a full time pursuit?
Some big factors that make writing easier for me:
Posture
Changing the type of chair I sit in
The type of pen and paper I use.
My poetry is usually created during those long hours on night shift as a nurse whether quite or chaotic ones… thanks Don
Wow, thanks so much for this Don.
Driving. No radio. That is where I find I get the most ideas.
I’ve gotten to the point that I need to make a list before I get on the computer, otherwise I get distracted and I don’t remember what I was going to do.
Yep…this happens to me too!
I’ve been thinking that one of the most creative seasons of my life was at a time when I walked my toddler and my dog every morning. Life is more complicated now and it’s harder to get out on that walk…but it’s so true–so many good thoughts come during that time. More blood to the brain, I guess.
Hot tea with milk and sugar, like the Brits drink it…that does the trick for me, too. And of course, good music gets the creative juices flowing.
I loved this post. I also love that your dog’s name is Lucy. That’s my youngest daughter’s name.
Oh yeah, and reading helps me too. If my thoughts are at a stand still, I pick a book off the shelf–sometimes one of yours, lol–and I start to read. It gets the creative juices flowing.
Thanks don I feel so much better I am like that with sermon writing and thought it was just me!
Thanks for the advice! Although, with a house full of kiddos- finding a quiet moment is a challenge. We are getting a dog, though- maybe that will help. I have found that laundry is especially inspirational
.
Don,
I just finished re-reading William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. He says writing is action. I was thinking about this verb-oriented writing and then read your post. Getting up out of the chair and doing some verb living helps us do verb writing, no? This doesn’t have to be grand–it can be as seemingly simple as walking our dogs but movement is key. In story and in life we have to keep things moving!
Thanks for the post.
Okay, so let me get this straight.
I need a dog?
Actually, good, practical post. I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who has to move to get moving on a project. I find pedaling around our hills has a way of granting insight into a particular scene or series of scenes as I work on a novel. I usually envision a scene during that time. It’s hard to take notes as I’m blazing (in my dreams) down the highway but the images remain anyway.
When it comes to shorter ideas for a post, I would be better off stopping and writing down a few thoughts. I usually don’t retain those as well. A good ride provides several blogging ideas of which I might remember two.
When I was writing a dissertation full time a few years ago, I used to get stuck all the time. I would go and walk in circles (no dog, sadly) and found that it helped hugely. I needed to escape. Now that I’ve got a day job and two kids, a quiet moment at the computer to write IS my escape. After waiting days for a chance to sit down and type, I never ever ever find myself with that awful ‘ugh’ feeling of stuck-ness because the chance to write is such a luxury. Hunger is the best sauce, I guess.
I’m not disagreeing with your post, I think it was spot on. I just find it interesting how much my perception of the same activity has changed as my life has altered. Now I get stuck all the time at work, instead. Maybe we should have an office dog. I’ll put it in the suggestion box.
I would venture to say, nearly every blog post and decent idea for ministry I have ever had, I’ve had during exercise. One of the many motivations I have to keep it up.
Blessings,
Sandy
I am a full time landscaper and part time writer. I’m sure my writing would only be a tiny fraction of my day were I not a landscaper.
I don’t have a dog, I don’t even like dogs. But really nice finding this post today as I’ve not checked my google reader in ages. Totally good timing to be affirmed that the writing process is much more than writing. Tattoo appointments help me dislodge the words from my skin. That’s where they get stuck for me. And coffee. Lots of coffee, homebrewed or otherwise, will root out the little darlings from their hiding places.
I like to take a shower or go rummage the pantry!