Primed to Write
Give your brain a little nudge to get started.
My writing process begins early, long before any actual writing happens.
I get dressed in the dark, pulling on my sweats and sneakers, and then I stretch or exercise. I move. After that, I have a quiet cup of coffee. I may meditate for 15 minutes or sit in the quiet and think over my day and how I want to go through it. How I want to feel during it.
Then, I pick a fountain pen and write in my notebook. I vent. Plan. Process. Scribble and scrawl in handwriting that is nearly illegible until my pages are complete and my daughter is awake.
While I’m waiting for her, I’ll read about the writing craft. Or listen to a podcast, something that gets me excited or leaves me inspired. Something that reminds me how fortunate I am that I get to do this work.
By the end of this process, when my daughter leaves for school, I’m ready to write.
Know Your Process
I’m fascinated by the processes writers use to get their work done.
Professional writers often play with their strategies and work hours until they find the most creative time. Then, they schedule everything else around those key hours.
Some listen to music or wear noise-canceling headphones. Others walk the dog, pour a cup of tea, and don’t get up again for a long stretch. Some work after the kids are in bed at 8 p.m., and light a candle or sage the room.
No matter their strategies, they know how to get the writing done. They are primed to write, not simply waiting for the Muse.
Priming the Process
Priming is a way of activating your brain to perform a specific way.
It happens without your conscious awareness after exposure to a sensation or detail—like watching a commercial during late-night television and all of sudden you are craving a taco.
Our brains automatically draw associations, connections, and relationships between our senses and the real world. The process is a shortcut to learning and remembering experiences.
If you hear a series of related words, for example, your brain is likely to pick the one that fits the pattern. Listen to a song you aren’t familiar with. You’ll probably be able to fill in some of the lyrics because your memory will seek context and rhymes.
We can use this effect consciously to prime ourselves to write.
There have been several studies in which study participants acted differently after being primed with specific images or cues. For example, in one experiment, those who looked at images of elderly people tended to move more slowly and walk with a stoop immediately after receiving the prompts.
In another experiment, researchers John Wryobeck and Yiwei Chen found that students who read sentences about healthy living were more likely to take the stairs to class instead of the elevator when compared to others who were not primed.
In creativity research, psychologists discovered that creativity and flexible thinking could be enhanced by priming. Those who were primed to create regularly developed more original ideas than those who went straight to work on creating something new.
How to Create Your Process
Creating a replicable writing process can help you prime your writing brain.
Here are some things you might want to include.
Move. Keep your brain and body agile. Boosting your circulatory and cardiovascular systems helps, it’s good for your brain.
Think about writing. Read about the writing craft. Recite a poem. Listen to author interviews. Do something that gets you excited to do the work before you sit down at the desk.
Write something before you get to the real work. Get the clutter out with Morning Pages, or write yourself a letter about what you love about your work, or what you want to accomplish that day. Jot a few pages in a journal, or finish up correspondence. Don’t be precious. Don’t worry about grammar or structure or handwriting, just loosen your mind with some less taxing writing before you settle into the day’s work.
When it’s time to work, write in the same place every day. I work at a desk in a room with a large window. From it I can see the birdfeeder, and the sun spots my desk early on. On the days my husband works at home, I sit in the brown chair with my laptop computer on a lapboard. When I’m in either of these places, I’m writing to publish.
Create a writing ritual. Some writers use a writing ritual just before they begin. Light a candle, give thanks, set an intention. Or, stretch your fingers, repeat a mantra, and hit the desk three times. Whatever it is, a ritual is a powerful way to shift the body and prime the brain to create.
Rituals work best when they have at least three, short, replicable steps that are performed each day.
The second before I start writing, I pour a cup of coffee, stretch my hands, and tap the end of a magic wand I have on my desk and think about the magic I want to create on the page.
Priming doesn’t make the writing brilliant or easy, but it can help you unleash your creativity and skill so that it shows up for you when you are ready to write.
-p
Roll Call
Workshop: Reported Essay Writing Workshop with Amy Paturel
Dates: Fridays, April 19 and April 26, 2024
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific.
Cost: $299
The class will include an analysis of essays and how they work, a discussion of essay ideas and possibilities, and information on pitching your essay. Students can also have their pitches workshopped in a supportive environment.
Amy is an award-winning essayist and career writer, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Wired, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.
You can reach her at amy@amypaturel.com or register here: https://www.amypaturel.com/classes/
What’s in the Desk?
On Simply, Write w/Polly Campbell, we discuss the writing craft and the crafting of a writer’s life, but we also geek out on our favorite fonts and pens, trinkets, and the tools writers like to have around when they write.
So, what’s in my desk today?
Mesh Metal File Basket. I get tired of having papers all over the desk.
A creative coach I worked with once, suggested that I park all the scraps of ideas, clipped articles, and notes in a folder until I have time to look through them. That way, I don’t have to hold them in my head or worry about forgetting them. At the end of the week, I look through the pile and decide what ideas I want to work with.
Call it a parking folder she said. A place to park your ideas until you get to them.
The wire basket on the edge of my desk is this Parking File.
What’s in your desk—or on your desk? What do you like to have around when you write? Drop me a comment or shoot me a pic, and I will include it in an upcoming newsletter.
