I am working on too many projects. This is a bad thing (tiredness, lack of social life; family forget what I look like). This is also a good thing (exciting; educational). The best thing though is the way I find my mind expands during this periods of 'feast.' I am constantly thinking, making connections, researching and discussing ideas for these projects, and I swear can almost feel the new pathways being created!
One of the reasons I became an author was because I like playing with ideas. Writing gives me a place to put them, before they fall out of my ears. I trust (hope?) that my writing has improved over the twenty one years I have been a published writer, but I am just about sure that my thinking has.
I started out writing when I was a teacher, and continued as a lecturer. I 'thought' a lot as part of my work: reflection, connections and exploration are a vital part of teaching. Yet it is the act of writing itself that I feel expands my mind the most - and I love it! Researching a new area (I LOVE the research phase of a project!); finding the right context for my writing; mapping out how characters act, think and behave - utter bliss.
The only thing is, sometimes - like last night - the thinking goes into overdrive and I snap awake in the darkness of the small, wee hours and then think until the sky brightens. Tiring; awkward (I don't want to wake my husband with my loud pondering) but somehow satisfying...but how do I turn it off? Perhaps better that I don't - or how would I write all of my books? Perhaps I should just content myself with the thought (there's another one) that writing is just 'thinking out loud.'
(Image by Cyril Rana https://www.flickr.com/photos/retrogui_photos/)
2 comments:
Playing with ideas, making connections, finding out - yes, those are some of the great things about our job! Thanks for this, Lynn!
It's so true that it can be tricky having all those ideas as well as exciting. I think at times I need to scribble down words to remind me, and then move away and go for a walk so my body is also exercised! I keep forgetting this though, and spend too much time writing down and trying to do EVERYTHING all at once. You have reminded me that there are times when the ideas keep flowing, but in order not to lie awake at night buzzing a bit too much, we might have to exercise our body and tire that out too. I definitely think winding down is a problem - at least for me.
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