To discover a story, writers use a different kind of cognitive activity and enter a different state of consciousness. Whether we call it the writer’s trance, creative flow, flow writing, freewriting, dreamstorming or the awakened dream, it’s where most writers find creative bliss. The writer’s trance is notoriously illusive, but you can enhance your ability … More How to Enter the Writer’s Trance
In a previous post, I promised to explain why you should “keep your butt on the meditation cushion or your back on the yoga mat” in the early stages of writing. There is power is resisting the urge to write. I learned the value of delayed drafting at a writer’s conference decades ago. One of … More The Creative Power of NOT Writing
Drum roll, please… I finished rewriting my novel on August 15, 2017! Again. If you’re a long-time reader of this blog or have looked at the New Book Updates in the archive, you may recall that I finished a significant rewrite in October 2015, one year and 10 months after I pulled my novel off … More New Book Update: It’s Done!
In the previous post, I said that drafting and revising rely on divergent thinking and editing relies on convergent thinking. It’s a weeny bit more complex. In Off the Page (2008 edited by Carole Burns), Richard Bausch says this about beginning a book: “I start writing with an image or a voice, but I don’t … More “Meditating” Your Way into Writing
In my previous post, I suggested that writers need to alternate between focused-attention meditation and open-monitoring meditation. In some stages of the creative process, we need divergent thinking, which open-monitoring meditation increases. In other stages, we need convergent thinking, which focused-attention meditation increases. (More about stages of the creative process in Chapter 4 of AWB) … More What Kind of Meditation Does Your Writing Need? Depends on What Stage It’s In
Bane of Your Resistance 