WRITING Isn't Done At a DESK

"I never had to change a word of what I got up in the middle of the night to write." - Saul Bellow

On a recent podcast, the host asked, "What's your biggest lesson-learned about writing?"

I didn't even hesitate. I told him, "Writing isn't done at a desk."

He asked, "What do you mean?"

I held up my phone. "If you have this, you can write anytime, anywhere. You can write on a walk, on a plane, while commuting to work. That's when your voice is purest, anyway."

"Purest?"

"Yes, for many people, writing is hard work. They dread it because they see it as something they have to do. That pressure, stress or tension turns writing into a grind. Coffee is supposed to be a grind, not writing.

If we don't like to write, that will come across to readers and they won't like reading what we've written. As Robert Frost said, 'No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader.'"

"So, what can we do?"

"Have you ever had the glorious experience of being in the shower, listening to a podcast, reading a book, or watching a movie and you get a great idea out of the blue?"

"Sure. I think we all have."

"That didn't really occur to you out of the blue. Dots just connected in your mind. That's writing in its infant form. The key is to capture those inspired thoughts when they're hot.

Ralph Waldo Emerson called this 'watching the gleams of light which flash across the mind from within.'

It's not enough to watch those gleams of light, we've got to record them the moment they occur (with a notebook, Evernote, or the Otter.ai app) if we want to capitalize on them.

Billy Joel is a great example of this."

"How so?"

"A?CBS Sunday Morning?reporter asked him, 'Where do you get your ideas?'

Joel told him, "Lyrics come to me when I'm doing my hobby, which is building wood boats from scratch. Working with my hands frees up my head and musical phrases just pop into my mind. One time, the line 'In the middle of the night, I was walking through my sleep' came to me, but I initially dismissed it. I thought, 'Nah, too simple,' and kept sanding.

I took a shower later to clean up and?couldn't get that line out of my head.?I started humming a tune to it and finally wrote it down, even though I wasn't sure it'd amount to much."

You probably know the rest of that story. That line evolved into one of Billy Joel's chart-topping songs, River of Dreams. Imagine if he hadn't written that down, just in case?

Yet many of us do that every day when we ignore ideas that come to us and talk ourselves out of capturing them. After awhile, the muse gets ticked and stops coming around. She thinks, "I'm giving you gold and you can't be bothered to write it down? Color me gone."

From now on, understand this is how you write.

As Nietzsche said, "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."

Writing is thinking on the move. If you want to get in the flow of thinks (not a typo), get out from behind your desk, get outside, and get moving.

When you are out and about, your mind is stimulated by what you're seeing, doing, and experiencing. You are no longer isolated and in your head. You are noticing and riffing off what is happening around you. You are partnering with the muse instead of going it alone.

As Mary Oliver said in her instructions for leading a life. 'Pay attention. Be astounded. Tell about it." When your synapses fire, and all of a sudden puzzle pieces fall into place and you have a Eureka, express what you're thinking/feeling to your recorder or in your notebook.

You may not know how or where you'll use that insight (or piece of dialogue or business revelation), just trust that you will and it will be waiting for you when you're ready for it.

Curious about the rest of my top ten do's and don'ts for writers? You can watch them here.

Want a rare opportunity to participate in my Learning Strategies Write Well, Write Fast, Write Now course ... for free? Check it out here.

And remember what the brilliant Ray Bradbury said, "My muse does all the work."

Bestselling author Harlan Coben puts it differently, "The muse is not an angelic voice that sits on your shoulder and sings sweetly. The muse is the most annoying whine. The muse isn't hard to find, just hard to like. She follows you everywhere, tapping you on the shoulder, demanding that you stop doing whatever else you might be doing and pay attention to her."

Want your muse to do all (or some) of your work for you?

Start paying attention to her. Write down what she says.

And remember, she doesn't like to hang out around desks. (Smile).