I'm Boosting my Writing Mojo by Starting with This (It's Simple. Really)
This week I tried something new, and I’m hoping it unblocks a whole ton of creative ideas.
I got the notion from a webinar that talked about, among other things, separating the act of creation from the act of organization. Why? Because they use different parts of the brain, so if you’re trying to create and organize at the same time, it’s like multitasking.
It doesn’t work very well.
Instead, you group like tasks together (called batching), so you’re using the same part of your brain for all of them.
Makes total sense to me.
So. . . I pulled out my whiteboard where it had been sitting, leaning against the leg of my desk, and bought a set of four colored markers. (Black, red, blue, and green, if you’re curious. Standard stuff.)
I laid it flat on the desk and started writing. My task was to brainstorm some things about my protagonist, Lily, based on what Jane Kalmes is teaching in her The Perfect Crime substack.
I wanted to identify Lily’s unique investigative skill, her unique worldview, and her humanizing vice.
Now, you’d think after drafting the entire book and going through multiple revisions that would be a no-brainer, but I had never thought of the character in quite those terms before. So I picked up a marker and started writing.
Wow! I was amazed at what I came up with. I took a picture of the board so I could transfer my ideas to a more permanent form, then erased it and started another brainstorming session.
I discovered there’s something amazingly freeing about using the whiteboard, much more so that writing on paper or typing into a document. Why is that, I wondered.
Here are some of the reasons I think it’s so liberating:
It’s tactile.
It feels ephemeral — one swipe and it can all be erased. So somehow it’s easier to jot down absolutely everything instead of filtering or rationing my thoughts.
If I want to save it, I just need to take a photo, and then I can transcribe it to the more permanent medium of my choice.
I can stand up to write on it if I want — I don’t have to be sitting down.
I’m going to try an experiment for the next couple weeks. I’ll start each writing session with the whiteboard, in hopes that it fires up those creative synapses. I’ll let you know how it goes.
What I’m Reading
Mrs. McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie
Periodically I’ll reread something from Dame Agatha because, well, she’s the best.
In this one, Poirot is asked by the police officer in charge of the case, his friend Superintendent Spence, to review it because he’s not satisfied.
Not satisfied that you got a conviction? Poirot is taken aback. But that’s what’s going on. Spence got a conviction, and the supposed murderer is in gaol, but despite all the evidence he still doesn’t think James Bentley did it.
So Poirot starts sniffing around and finds out that, indeed, James Bentley is innocent.
Very unusual and completely satisfying.
Killer Gourmet by GA McKevett
In Killer Gourmet, book 20(!) of the Savannah Reid mysteries, Savannah and the team need to find out the truth behind the brutal murder of the chef at her friends’ John and Ryan’s new restaurant.
Yes, the guy was a total creep who totally deserved to be removed from the kitchen, but multiple stab wounds and a serious blow to the head are just not on the menu.
Buy Me a Chai
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Notable Quotes
Normally, I would be doing my best to avoid this close a quarters with my quasi-stalker, but a good risotto free of come-ons and a dead body will disrupt any person's norms.
- Scripted to Slay by ACF Bookens
FWIW, the guy wasn’t really a stalker. Just a self-absorbed jerk who didn’t believe that “no, I don’t want to date you” meant, well, no, I don’t want to date you. But if anything can highlight the fact that this particular time wasn’t normal, it’s starting to think that dinner with the jerk is actually appealing.
The room designer had obviously ascribed to the “more is more” style of decor
- The Missing Agent by Lynn Morris
You know I love descriptions that draw a vivid picture with few words, and this one definitely does.
Wise Words
And now it’s time for. . . drum roll please. . . another edition of Choose Your Words Carefully. Here’s today’s quote:
“Flora donned the hat and went to _____ before the entry mirror, turning this way and that to get a good view of every angle.”
A Preposterous Alibi by Cherie O’Boyle
Thanks for playing. The answer (and the reasons for it) will be in next week’s newsletter.