Day 16
15 mins planning + 1 hr planned writing
This week invites us into the Right brain. The side of creativity and free-association. The Left brain, by contrast, being the side of logic and planning. And criticism.
This discussion reminds me of t-shirts I saw in my youth saying “only left-handed people are in their right minds”. I’m not sure what the current science is on right brain / left brain divisions — but it’s a way to visualise the different “personas” we use in the writing process.
I feel like the start of this course was about letting the right brain reign; free-writing is an invitation for intuition to take over from analysis. That has been important for me, as I suppose I am more “left brained”; it’s rare for me to think something I write is “good enough” and consequently I have given up on work which was a decent start, and stayed attached to other work based on trying to make the same thing better, rather than expanding it and moving on.
So it’s nice to be invited to forget about word count this week, and just get comfy. To settle in to your favourite working environment, gather ye props, put on thine music, and focus on being “in the zone”. Chase the dreamy feeling of immersion in the world you are creating.
Well. I tried. But by the time I started writing it was already dinner time and I was typing with one hand and eating a burger with another, around the kitchen table. Not my ideal writing scenario. I definitely didn’t achieve the right brain dream time I would have liked to. But I did manage to avoid getting burger on the computer, which was good.
Exercise
- Plan the scene ahead (left brain), so that the right brain can take over during the writing session.
- 1,000 words (I added 15 minutes planning): set up writing conditions to your liking. Focus on getting into the world intuitively and letting the ideas flow.
My response
- I found writing difficult today. Perhaps because I started later than my usual time, so I had that stressy feeling of “catch up”, plus the weariness of working while it’s dark outside. I always find it much easier when it’s light.
- Today was less “what side of the brain are you working on?” and more “what side of the bed did you get out of?” [and which I now look forward to getting back into!]
- I liked the scene idea I came up with, but the execution was a struggle. However (and this may sound strange) I like that I had a mediocre session today. It tells me that I am showing up regularly enough that I won’t always be in the mood. Yet I am writing anyway, getting something down. I’m happy about that and what it signifies.
all course content copyright Jacqui Lofthouse thewritingcoach.co.uk