Since I was about 9 years old, all I’ve wanted is to be a writer. Some of my strongest memories are of sitting in my own little room at my parents’ print shop, surrounded by filing cabinets and spare computer parts and dusty paper samples, filling the hours between school and dinner by scribbling stories into notebooks. Back then, the words seemed to flow so easily, like water, like magic. Now? Not so much.
To be honest, most days I have to trick myself into writing. No joke. I think my Internal Editor is to blame. I don’t know when exactly she came into my life, or how she got to be such a powerful voice in my head, but she is the definition of a frenemy. She claims to be on my side, says she’s only trying to help me be better. And maybe sometimes that’s true. But mostly she slows me down, makes me doubt myself, and urges me to strive for perfection — which doesn’t exist and thus can never be reached.
What a jerk.
So when I say that I trick myself into writing, I guess what I’m really doing is tricking my Internal Editor. Getting her to go away for a while, or at least quiet down.
Here are some of the techniques I turn to:
Write By Hand
Switching to pen and paper seems to unlock something in my brain. Maybe because it makes the writing process feel more tangible. The weight of the pen in my fingers, the friction of ink against the page. The rough loops of my lettering gives me permission to make mistakes, to play. I’m not boxed in by pixels on a screen.
Change Up The Scenery
Whether it’s trekking out to a coffee shop or simply picking a different spot in my own home, I often find that working in a new spot stimulates my creativity. In a public place, there are conversations to eavesdrop on, people to observe, muzak to ignore — so much fuel and fodder. At home, there’s a comforting rhythm that allows me to feel safe and to tune in to my own mind.
Use a Timer
Willpower is not my greatest asset, so apps like Freedom and Pomodoro are helpful in getting me to close out my email, put away my phone, and focus on my story. My friend’s text message can wait, and the latest drama on Twitter will still be there when I’m ready to read about it. I get a Pavlovian satisfaction from the chirp of the timer, and I can sit back and reflect on my work session. Fruitful or not, I put in the effort. That’s what creates positive momentum.
Find a Buddy
I don’t generally cave to peer pressure, but when it comes to writing, working alongside someone else — literally or virtually — helps me stay on task. It’s easier to rein in my distractions and procrastinations when I know their fingers are clickity-clacking away and mine should be too. Plus, writing tends to be a solitary battle, and sometimes it’s nice to have a friend in the trenches with you. Someone who understands the struggles, the joys, the worries, and the dreams.
Aim Lower
In Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the heroine points out that anyone can withstand anything for just 10 seconds. So whenever she is faced with something difficult, she forces herself to deal with it for 10 seconds. Then another 10. Then another. Similarly, when all else fails, I tell myself that anyone can write just 1 sentence. So I force myself to write one. Then another. Then another. It may not add up to much, but something is better than nothing.
Those are my tricks. Not exactly revolutionary, but they work. They help me escape the clutches of my Internal Editor.
Unfortunately, she’s a clever girl, and she always wises up to me eventually. I am constantly having to rotate through these tricks, or use several of them at the same time.
Do you have any tricks that I can add to my repertoire? How do you deal with your Internal Editor?
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About Kristan Hoffman
Originally from Houston, TX, Kristan Hoffman studied creative writing at Carnegie Mellon University and attended the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Now she lives with her family in Cincinnati, OH, where she writes both fiction and nonfiction with a focus on feminist, multicultural stories. Her shorter work has appeared in Sugar Mule, the Citron Review, and Switchback, among others. She is currently at work on a Young Adult novel, and is represented by Tina Dubois of ICM. For more, please visit her website.
Have a Mortgage.
Lol sure, yes, financial pressure can help shut up that Internal Editor too.
What a great list to chew on! Thanks Kristan. I’m amazed at how few of these I’ve tried, or even thought of as helping.
I’m all in favor of shifting scene- heck, even taking a walk and returning to my desk helps break up the ice-floes in the way of writing.
But using a pen and paper? Ack! I’m completely married to the keyboard, and that’s coming from a really old guy here. Left-handed writer, just picking up the pen brings back six solid years of penmanship grades (never higher than C-). These days I sign two checks and my hand cramps up.
But to each their own. I ought to think about a timer…
Glad to give you some tools! And yes, going for a walk is a great idea! Dunno why I never think of that…
Goodness, I needed to read this today. I’m struggling with my internal editor something awful and handwriting is the way to go for me. Otherwise I end up deleting everything I write … that gap between where you are and where you want to be is soooo frustrating. So onwards! Thank you for a great post.
Could not agree more. Even scratching things out on paper feels different — more like progress — than erasing things from sight on the computer. Good luck! <3
Figure out your smartest hour of the day. The sixty minutes that you are the most alert and relaxed. Then after discovering it, move your writing time as close to that hour as possible.
For me it’s between 8 and 9 in the morning.
Great tip! Everyone’s natural rhythms differ. I’m mostly a night owl, but late morning works for me too. (Until I get too hungry and can only think about lunch, lol…) I’m worthless in the afternoons!
Great list. I’ve often had success with a variation on the last strategy.
I tell myself, “Just sit down for 15 minutes and write down all the crap that’s in your head for the next scene. Then, at least, you won’t forget it all. One less thing to worry about.”
Before I know it, I’m into the process. An hour or two later and I’ve churned out 500-600 words of not-bad work that can be fixed later.
YES! Getting started is often the hardest part — and I suppose now that you mention it, most of my tricks are about getting over that initial hurdle.
As usual, I find our journeys are quite similar, Kristan. I have to trick myself to get started, too.
Here’s my current favorite trick. You know how when you’re trying to focus on the upcoming scene and can’t (because you’re trying)? I tell myself to just forget it, take the dog for a walk, or take a shower, or one then the other. Inevitably, often in the shower, Internal Editor tends to drift off, and Mr. Subconscious Story Mechanic takes over. This usually happens in the shower. I try to latch onto one line – usually a line of dialogue, but not always. Something that is central to the next day’s work. Right after the shower, I run to my office and write it on a fresh page of a pad of paper. In the morning, that line is front-and-center on my desk. Nothing else. But remember, it’s central to what’s coming.
I can take other notes, do G.M.C. rundowns, etc. But those are off to the side when I start. Just the note. Front-and-center. Just a pebble to throw into the pond, to let the ripples roll. The subsequent turbulence is usually enough to shove off that old wooden Internal Editor.
Best to you! Thanks for sharing your tricks!
Thanks so much for the tip, Vaughn! Given how in sync we often are, I will definitely give this a shot, knowing that it’s helpful to you.
And isn’t it funny how sometimes approaching a thing sideways allows you to finally get in front of it? :P
I like to listen to music, and make the following deal with myself: if I write for the length of this song, I can go goof off during the next. It gives my ADHD brain a nice, alternating schedule, and more often than not I get “in the zone” and keep writing through multiple songs.
Ooo, I like music too, but I’ve never thought to use it as a sort of natural timer! Thanks so much for the great idea!
What all these comments are describing in ‘tricks’ is switching from left brain (the critical side of the brain) to right brain (the creative side of the brain. There are a couple of books available out there. One title that comes readily to mind: “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GSYXU4?
keywords=drawing%20on%20the%20right%20side%20
of%20the%20brain&qid=1458135921&ref_=sr_1_1&s
=books&sr=1-1
This is a book for artists, but it thoroughly explains the separate sides of our brain and how to control the process. There may be other books about right/left brain functions.
If we know how the brain works, we can better control our own creative process. It works for me. It’s the basic reason I keep a writing journal at my bedside. We all have done it: we wake at three a.m. with ideas churning like an erupting volcano, and it’s almost impossible to get back to sleep. Then in the morning, it’s all gone.
The right side, the creative side, works best when we are fully relaxed, when we aren’t TRYING. That’s why a walk with the dog works so well to get us going again. Or a shower, or a nap, or even washing the dishes. When we aren’t trying, it comes more easily.
The left side is our critical side. It’s the side of the brain we’ve been educated to use. The left side overpowers the right side, because the left side is much more effectively trained over our lifetime.
That’s why a kid finds it so easy to write. He hasn’t yet trained his inborn critic.
Anyway, knowing this allows us to USE our brain rather than wait for the brain to release us.
Thanks for the book recco!
And yeah, I often wish for my younger days, before my inner critic had developed. Maybe what I really need is a time machine… :P
Stream of consciousness works for me. Regardless of whether I use the keyboard or pen and paper, I keep going for 15 minutes and write the first thing that pops into my head. Present tense is best. What the scene is about, what’s in the character’s head, maybe a snippet of dialogue. Even what’s bugging me about the scene, what I’m trying to achieve. The only rule is: No editing. Keep writing! Usually one of two things happen: I figure out what’s wrong with my scene or I write something–a moody description, a line of dialogue–that brings the scene to life.
And I’m off.
As Lyn says above, it’s all about engaging the right side of the brain.
Since I’m struggling with a scene right now, I’m going to try some of your ideas, maybe all of them at once. Thanks for a much needed post.
Ah yes, stream of consciousness! I think that’s the theory behind Morning Pages, which is another one of my tricks, but I’d forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder!
Hope your writing has been going well! <3
This is good, Kristan. I have a tough Internal Editor too, which often leads to inertia. Or cleaning the house. And while the seat-of-the-pants to the seat-of-the-chair is a good discipline, especially when we’re on deadline, I agree that it pays to Get Away From The Keyboard.
Kathy Bailey
Ah yes, cleaning is such great “productive procrastination.” It’s practically my full-time job. :P
I keep a file of comments from people who admire me and my work, then when I feel really dry and empty, I have somewhere to go to remind myself that I have something to offer. Often, the block is just fear of judgement, the anxiety that anything I write will be useless. Persuading myself that my words are like honey, or gold, or diamonds sparkling in the grass inspires me to forge ahead and let my voice be heard.
“Often, the block is just fear of judgement, the anxiety that anything I write will be useless.”
So, so true. I think your file sounds lovely, and like a great way to remind yourself that your words and stories have value. <3
I’m with you, Kristen. For me, music changes that inner editor into a muse. The memory of particularly powerful sunsets can also do the trick. And if I really need to dig deep, a walk in my local cemetery can do wonders to clear my head.
A local cemetery! Yes, all that history, the spirits, the love.
I tune my Rhapsody on to the Barry Manilow station. That drives the editor and any other demons out of the room.
Hm, I think Barry Manilow IS one of my demons… Lol. jk! But yes, you’re right, music can be very soothing and inspirational. Thanks for the reminder!
This is probably not what you want to hear, but I don’t have the problem of the Internal Editor.
For me, writing time is precious. There’s too little of it. When I get it–I zoom! I should have been a journalist in the days of Royal typewriters.
I guess, then, my method is similar to Jim Bell’s mortgage. I write during this hour because, cripe, I have to. It’s the only hour I’ve got.
If it was taken away from me I’d die, so I’d better live while I can, eh? Back to it…
Doesn’t bother me at all! I’m quite happy for you. And I do think there’s something to the idea that effort contracts or expands to fill the time it is given… Goodness knows I have too much unstructured time!
Writing by hand and using a timer work for me. I don’t download an app for the timer. Every computer (I think) has a timer in the clock software. Mine has a stopwatch and a timer. I just set it at, say, an hour, and I’m good to go. I also set up a timer when I’m taking a break for my eyes, or when I’m playing a computer card game to rest my brain. I play for five or ten minutes, and then I’m back at it.
Yes, taking breaks is so vital too!
Walking works a charm for me (nearly always) and you will often see me tapping into Notes on my phone while trying not to crash into anything (or anybody). Dictating also helps. It forces me to speak slowly and clearly while also focusing on the immediacy of what I want to say.
Hah, I do notes and voice memos too! Dictation is particularly helpful when you’re stuck commuting… And yes, I do find that it makes me think about my words in a different way. :)
To-do lists help me. I find something very satisfying about checking off that I have successfully done something. Since I use an app on my phone for my to-do list, the daily things, like writing, are set to automatically recur, so I’m not wasting time building the list.
Alternatively, I give my Internal Editor (in my case, a copy-editor) free reign to go chew over previous work. It has to get reviewed sometime! And if the little hamster on his wheel of despair that powers my jerk-brain is particularly strong today, well the words aren’t going to flow too well but I will pick up all the little mistakes (like a missing comma).
Omg yes, I live by to-do lists! (Also because I have a crap memory, haha.) But yeah, there’s a satisfaction in crossing things off — and it can also be really helpful to break things down into more manageable steps.
The internal editor sounds a bit like an inner critical internal editor to me if it stops you writing! That critic can only be tricked for so long! Dealing with it directly and processing it is useful so it quietens down. I need my internal editor at present as I’m editing the 1st draft of my 2nd book. It’s helpful to me but I also notice the whole thing has gone on the back seat at present. Mmm. I enjoy just writing rather than editing but has to be done. So back to the tricks!
Oh for sure, the Inner Editor/Critic is essential at times. I would never want her to go away completely. She just tries to be involved ALL the time, which isn’t in my best interest… :P
I’m wondering if your Internal Editor (Infernal Editor?) is another name for a plain old inner critic.
A writer friend, Andrea Patten, has just published a small book on ways to stop letting your brain kick your butt.
She offers advice on how to stop fighting it, dodging it, or trying to escape it. Instead, you can turn it into a secret weapon.
Sounds like a strategy with potential!