Thanks to everyone who voted for a section title to replace “Brain Factoids” in the upcoming Around the Writer’s Block: Using Brain Science to Solve Writer’s Resistance.
The majority of you voted for “Inside the Writer’s Brain,” which is what I was leaning toward myself. So Inside the Writer’s Brain we go!
What you’ll find in the Inside the Writer’s Brain sections will be scintillating answers to fascinating brain-based questions like:
- Why you need to reward yourself for writing (because when you get a reward, your brain releases dopamine and acetylcholine, which make you feel good and remember that you want to keep doing what you just did)
- What’s a habit (a collection of neurons whose connections have been insulated with myelin to make the pathway more effective)
- Why you need writing habits (because these insulated neural pathways are more effective and therefore become the default path)
- Why trying to multitask is such a bad idea (because the cortex is a serial processor, not parallel processor)
- How tracking your efforts improves your writing (the brain can only learn when you’re paying attention)
- What self-care does to improve your writer’s brain (should you take a walk, a break or a nap?)
Please vote again: which of these or other brain-based insights would you like me to discuss in greater depth in future posts? Is there something about your brain or your writing that you’ve always wondered about? “Why do I…?”
Bane of Your Resistance 
My votes would go to the last two: tracking your efforts and self-care.
It’s slightly possible that I’m having the most trouble with these myself 🙂
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Thanks Michael. Knowing what readers are looking for really helps me get started.
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One of us so far 🙂
Hey – still interested in my thoughts on the social/practical things to consider for your short story?
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Yes, please, but not until mid-December when I’ll have the neurons to devote to it.
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