We’ve always preached that time spent thinking about your writing — pencils down, computer shut off — is almost as important as time spent writing.
Some writers are blessed with the ability to think about their stories while writing their stories. Fingers flying, they go boldly into a fugue state.
You know the one: where writing becomes almost
automatic, where problems with plot, structure, character and setting are solved seemingly in real time, without forethought.
Others of us do better when we can sit down for a few minutes, ideally in
silence, and just think: How do I solve x problem with y character? What about my structure is working, and what isn’t?
Ernest Hemingway had this to say about life between writing
sessions:
“I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious would be working on it and at the same time
I would be listening to other people and noticing everything.”
Of course, what’s right for Hemingway might not be right for me or you. Different strokes and all that.
And anyway, if you spend, say, thirty minutes thinking about your writing, you still have plenty of time left over for “listening to other people and noticing everything.”
Far be it from me to tell Papa he’s full of hooey — but I can tell you I think he’s full of hooey. At least in this case.
What do you think? Better yet, how do you think … about your own writing?
When you shut off
your computer do you also shut off your consciousness to your project? Or do you think through your project even when you’re away from your writing space? Is Papa full of hooey?
Click "Reply" to this email to let me know your thoughts!
