How a Writer’s Mind Works: Part I
waves on the shore…
sometimes calm, sometimes stormy, always interesting
We all are unique human beings, with unique minds. No two minds work exactly alike. Even identical twins, while amazingly alike in many ways, still have their differences. Writer’s minds, however, often have certain similarities. For example, we tend to be more creative, and less inclined toward math or tasks that require serious, rational organization (unless you’re writing a book about math or organization, of course).
How a writer’s mind works could fill a book. (I’ve added links to two of my favorites. Purchase by clicking “Buy On Amazon” and I get a few cents, which I greatly appreciate; it takes many long, unpaid hours to produce Moist Ink ). Since I’m not writing an entire book on the writer’s brain, I’ll write a few posts on the subject instead.
I’ll use how I came up with Moist Ink as an example of how a writer’s mind works. The idea or writing a blog about writing had been in my brain for several years, like waves crashing on a shore, then receding back out to sea. The idea would wash up the sandy beach of my cerebral cortex, I’d consider it, then it would return to that vast unknowable ocean it came from, and I’d turn to other projects. But the wave would return again, sometimes quietly, sometimes crashing on the shore. Eventually, the waves reached storm proportions, flowing all the way up to the high water line on beach, eroding the barriers I had erected, until I could ignore them no longer.
There were the little signs, like people telling me I was a natural teacher. Or others singing my praises as a writer, telling me that they really enjoyed reading my first book, Passage to Nirvana, often staying up all night to read it. Then there was the serious accident and several months lying in a hospital bed, which gave me the time to think and reflect on who I really was, what I really liked, and how I had made my living for most of my adult life. (Some friends might tell you it was the pain killers that addled my brain and led me to undertake such a time-consuming, thankless, below-minimum-wage task.)
In any event, the idea of writing a blog on writing had been kicking around for a long time. My brain had been operating on writer’s time, a different (some would say strange) kind of time where it takes quite a while for ideas to gel. I had a name, The Language Log, and had even added a page on my primary website, Discover What Matters and made a few posts. But obviously my heart wasn’t in it, because I didn’t keep up with the posts. I think the topic was too broad, too ill-defined. I used the blog to ruminate on anything and everything that came to mind, instead of focusing exclusively on writing.
There is much more to the story. How I came up with the name. How I overcame the daunting task of producing enough content to launch the site with enough good information to make Moist Ink worth reading. How the decision to write a book finally tipped the scales. How other experiences in my life finally came together: my friend who is a National Book Award winner; my membership in the National Speakers Association, writing my first book, and more. I don’t tell you these stories because I have a huge ego (It’s all about me!) but because I find people learn best through stories, and my own experiences are the stories I know best.
You might not be planning in starting your own blog, but whatever writing endeavor you’re thinking of undertaking, the basic principles of success are still the same. Good luck figuring out your own “writer’s mind.” It’s not always easy, but it is worthwhile!
