Ink It When You Think It

People often tell me they think writing is hard work. I tell them, “Not if you ink it when you think it.”

I was Executive Direcor of the Maui Writers Conference for 17 years. Do you know the ONLY thing our best-selling authors agreed upon?

Ink it when you think it.

For example, Terry Brooks, bestselling fantasy autor of Sword of Shannara would tell our audience, "You have to work with an outline." 

Our next keynoter would get up and say, "I never work with an outline."

Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes) said in his keynote, "Be sure to write first thing in the morning to capture the thoughts that come to you in dreams."

Our next speaker said, "I'm a night owl. I do my best work after my kids go to bed." 

What became evident was, it didn't matter what system you use to write, as long as you have a system that works for you.

Know what system works for me after writing 9 books that have been published around the world in 17 languages?

Reframe what it means to write. Writing does not have to be done at a desk, and it is not something you do only when you get hours of free time.

Writing is something you can do anytime, anywhere - as long as you use a voice-recorder, instant-transcript app like Otter.ai.

You can write while washing the dishes, while out for a walk, while driving to the store.

Please understand, writing is just capturing what we think.

And when we capture what we think in the moment of thinking it, it comes out in our un-self-conscious voice, our true voice.

One of the most important things I learned while writing and researching my book ConZentrate is: "Flow doesn’t like to take orders. It has a mind of its own."

Flow happens when we’re immersed in something that intrigues or inspires us, when we're caught up in an experience that is flooding our body, filling our mind and soul.

That’s when we need to write.

If you're lucky enough to get swept up in something, GO WITH THAT FLOW.

From now on, make your life your lab. Keep your antenna up for what makes you laugh, what makes you think, what makes you care, what makes you cry, what makes you sigh.

Because when something breaks through your mental filter - when it gets YOUR eyebrows up - it will probably get your readers' eyebrows up too.

Next time you see something, feel something, understand something as if for the first time… jot those thoughts while they're hot.

Get them out of your head and onto the page … as fast as you can.

Don't edit them. The critical voice will kill the creative voice.

Just let what wants to be said come out in a rush.

Capture it while it's alive. It may not be grammatically correct; but it will have a passion, urgency, and pithy purity that only results when you are swept up in the flow of thinks (not a typo).

When we get out of the way and simply do our best to release what's in our heart and head, we're in a magical partnership with the muse.

We are simply serving as a conduit for whatever is blossoming inside us. We are a messenger.

Our role as a writer is to get those thoughts, insights and stories out of our head (where they serve only us) and into the world (where they have the opportunity to serve others).

You know you’re doing it “right,” when you look at what you’ve written and you wouldn't change a word, it is better than you know how. 

From now on, if you want writing to be easy, effortless and incredibly rewarding instead of hard work; stop seeing it as something you only do at appointed times.

See it as something you do any time and every time the muse shows up.

If you do, flow will show up too. 

Your life will become your lab and every day will become infinitely more interesting and rewarding.

P.S. As my give-back in these times of coronavirus, I am hosting a free half-hour writers' support group on Facebook Mon-Fri at 12 noon Eastern. Hope you'll join us and hope it helps you get turn your writing dreams into reality.

-  -  -  -  -  -

Sam Horn, CEO of the Intrigue Agency and 3-time TEDx speaker, helps people create quality projects - books, brands, presentations, funding pitches - that scale their income and impact for good. Her clients include NASA, Intel, Cisco, Nationwide, Accenture and Capital One. Her books have been featured in NY Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and on NPR.