Protecting Your Creative Mindspace
By Heather Webb | May 23, 2019 |
wired.com
Mindspace. You won’t find this term in Merriam-Webster, but I’m willing to bet most writers know what I’m talking about. The mind is a place where electricity ignites and runs over brain cells creating memory, thoughts, emotions. A mind is its own entity, but when you add “space” to the term, it creates a whole new dimension. Space equals capacity, area, breadth, but it also means BREATHING ROOM. What term could be more perfect for a creative–for a writer–than mindspace? I suppose what I’m trying to hit upon is how much we need both—inspiration, focus, electricity AND plenty of breathing room. Nurturing it, channeling it, protecting it. Yet many of us aren’t very good at protecting our creative mindspace.
In the last year, I’ve found myself going from one task to another, one story to another, without stopping to take time to refill the well. It’s especially difficult as I write to deadline, sprinkled in with my kids’ spring sports schedules (say that five times fast), which also happens to be the same time I’m gearing up the promotion machine for a book summer launch. ALL GOOD THINGS and yet. I’ve struggled to see clearly, to connect to my characters, to pour myself into my manuscript. I feel untethered from my story, when all I want to do is plug in and do a deep dive. I’m feeling the urge to protect the creative pathways in my brain that enable me to write something meaningful. Though I keep trying, I’m failing a lot right now. But sometimes I succeed and manage a blissful streak of pure creative impulse, lots of breathing room, and time to delve deeply.
BUT HOW DOES ONE CREATE and PRESERVE and PROTECT THOSE PURE CREATIVE MOMENTS?
I’m working on a formula for success and it’s starting to look a little like these tips below:
Write First: Write first thing in the morning before a.) you’ve consumed information that may affect your mood and send you spiraling into the abyss of how f*cked up the world is, b.) looked at your never-ending list of “to-dos” and inbox and had a panic attack, or c.) felt the urge to schedule something else during the sacred writing time, including lunches, meetings, appointments, phone calls, or even the all-important cleaning the keyboards in the house with Q-tips. Not everyone is a morning person, and I get that, but it’s never EASY to get up early, but the world is quiet in the early morning hours and you, therefore, can be quiet—quietly immersed in your story—too.
Routines: Change your routine. Sometimes the same ol’ same ol’ doesn’t work anymore. Buck the system! Burn it down! Turn it inside out and see what happens. I’m absolutely NOT an evening writer, but sometimes, I find it helps me get out of a weird slump because I’ve already accomplished everything I needed to for the day and in that evening space, I can be calmer, quieter, more focused. It doesn’t work as a rule for me, but it can have the same sort of effect the early morning writing does. The world is quiet.
Setting Boundaries: Set time limits to media consumption—all kinds of media. When I mute my notifications for a few hours, I’m infinitely less spastic and anxious, and I’m able to focus for longer stretches of time. Oh, and don’t answer family or work pings or friends while you’re in this protected time period. It’s yours alone, and no one will respect your time if you don’t set boundaries. Make the mute key your new best friend.
Rhythmic Motion: Exercise helps with expelling stress and anxiety and then all of a sudden, when my load feels lighter, I find myself tunneling into my character’s mind. I recommend, in particular, rhythmic exercises like biking, running, swimming, walking. Coloring and drawing and cooking do this for me, too. It’s the Buddhist way, in fact, to detach and clear the mind through rhythmic motion. Once the pathways are clear, inspiration may flow.
Persistence: Persistence is the dirty secret to success, especially with writing (and publishing). Keep trying new things. Keep pushing the envelope. Keep finding ways to be inspired. If your writing is important to you, you’ll find ways to protect your creative mindspace or you’ll become frustrated and produce sub-par work. You won’t be creating your art.
But I know we’ve got this. We can fight for what’s important to us–the writing and the time and SILENCE to do it properly. We can set those boundaries. Are you with me? On that note, I suppose it’s time to unplug….
How do you protect your writing time? Your writing/creative brain?
Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of historical fiction. As a freelance editor and an adjunct in a MFA in Creative Writing program, Heather has helped many writers sign with agents and go on to sell at market. When not writing, she feeds her cookbook addiction, geeks out on history and pop culture, and looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. To date, her books have been translated to seventeen languages.
I totally agree about the necessity of mindspace, Heather. I find I can focus on the small to medium stuff during my actual writing sessions, but sometimes I sense I need to “unfocus” (for lack of a better word). I need to see a bigger picture. Which, for me, requires floating in mindspace for a bit.
As much as I’ve been admiring your early morning sessions, they’re not for me. But in those same hours, I often find the mindspace I need, and I often find myself scrambling to take notes before I’m out the door with the dog for the morning walk. The walk often offers the time to home-in on the specifics of the big picture presented in those pre-rising floating sessions.
Wishing you ample mindspace and some “far out” and rewarding explorations.
“Floating sessions”. I like this term of yours! Sometimes we do need to float. I took the day off from writing yesterday and today to just float for a bit. I’ve been working on other things at my desk, client work and such, but it’s been a really nice time to float and let my own edits percolate. Low and behold, I discovered something big just a couple of hours ago that I wouldn’t have come to had I forced the issue.
So I guess I won’t be seeing you at #5amwritersclub? ;)
I love all of this, Heather. I always think of mindspace as mental white space. I need it. And busy seasons steal it. I can’t be at my best without it, so I have to consciously detach myself from other people’s expectations of my schedule, and from mindless media or social media that fills the time but doesn’t feed me. I have to remind myself that not everything I do has to feel productive. That an hour spent sitting in the garden or taking a walk at the nature center or painting a picture is an hour well spent, not an hour wasted when I should be GETTING STUFF DONE.
My husband and I have been trying to keep our summer schedule more clear than it has been the past few years so we can just spend time at home, enjoying life. You know, like normal people.
I love this comment, Erin:
“Detach myself from other people’s expectations of my schedule.”
It’s hard to set those boundaries sometimes. I struggle with them myself pretty regularly because people “need” stuff from me constantly. I like your idea of chillin’ in the garden to recalibrate. Think I’ll do that tonight!
Heather,
Excellent words of advice, as I’ve wondered how to fill all the space between my ears. Billboards haven’t sold as well as I’d hoped.
You goofball! 😂 I can always count on you for a laugh
I love this, Heather!
I’ve experimented with creating mindspace (love that term) in order to write drafts of books, but find it harder to edit. It’s not as much fun. Lately, I’ve been working in the afternoons until dinnertime. I’ll try your morning idea today. It makes sense to prioritize my new book over blogging, marketing, and everything else that gets in the way and then will hit an exercise class this afternoon.
Thanks for sharing!
It’s amazing how individual writing is, in terms of process, for each of us. I LOVE the editing and find the drafting such a chore once I’m up around 35,000 to the end.
How did the morning writing work for you?
I started at 10:00 and edited for more than six hours today, so I got a ton done. Yay!!!
Thanks again, Heather.
Mind space can be hard to clear but that space is not per se created in a room, with a routine or on a calendar. Mind space is first of all in the mind.
Believe it or not, some writers report achieving great focus in chaotic circumstances. Think of those old movies set in newsrooms with clattering typewriters and screaming editors.
Nothing against quiet, cooking or anything else you recommend, it’s just that those things aren’t always available. Your mind itself, however, always is.
Some distractions are tough to ignore. A pot boiling over, a clogged toilet, kids murdering each other or a boss who expects work done on time—sheesh—do demand our attention. What can you do? But the mind is a fortress to which you can often pull up the drawbridge.
What I’m saying here is that making mind space dependent on external circumstances or the forbearance of other people isn’t always going to work, not in this intrusive world of ours, but one thing they can’t invade or control—not yet—is our minds. That’s ours.
An excellent point, Don. Mindspace isn’t always about quiet, but the way in which you insulate your brain from your environment. I suppose this is why some of my best writing has been done at “my office” at the local Starbucks. There’s harmonious noise in the background with plenty of people coming and going, but I’m not being interrupted every five minutes by my kids or husband! Even having them in the same room while I work–with earbuds in–still distracts me. I guess I need to work on deactivating the mom brain when they’re all around. :)
Thanks for your comments today! Insightful, as always.
Thanks Heather and I love Don’s image of a fortress. My time of day to write feels that way, like a fortress–but it can get breached by the smallest thing. I comfort myself by always having the means to write down an idea–whether on my phone or my usual choice–paper.
Beth, I’ve been having the same issue-my fortress is too often breached. I think I need to knock it all down and rebuild! Thanks for stopping by today.
I have found squishing in writing around 9pm seems to work okay. Honestly, once I’m there–if I get there–exploring my writing world is an enjoyable respite from the rest of the world and I usually work for much longer than I planned. I don’t have the same stresses as you do, though. My stresses are all related to family and day job and dogs messing in the house. My writing is still pretty much mine. I think it becomes harder to keep that creative mindspace when the stresses are directly related to writing. At least it seems to for me, which is why I struggled for the last several years. I had to learn to relax my mind and let go of the personal stressors I was creating for myself. I didn’t have any consequences for not writing, though, where someone who has deadlines and promotions to work through doesn’t have the luxury to not write! I imagine it can be very tough to keep that creativity flowing when your writing isn’t necessarily just your own anymore. I’m hoping if I ever do get to “enjoy” the fruits of writing success I’ll be able to take the lessons of my last several years to help mitigate some of the stress that comes with it and keep a more balanced mindspace. I always appreciate your posts, because they are so open and real to your experiences. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Lara. You bring up a really important point–while writing to deadline is a great problem to have, at least theoretically, it also adds a different dimension to our “art-making”. At times, I find it difficult to find the joy in it all, but thankfully, those tend to be low points only and not the day to day. I really do love what I do and I’m grateful every day that I get to live my dream. I suppose the key is balance, just like in everything else. Thanks for your insight
As an independent contractor working at home, I have often resisted writing on my work computer because I want to keep my writing uncontaminated by thoughts of work. Trouble is: that’s the computer I use most easily. I also have a laptop and a wonderful Alpha-Smart keyboard (that genius invention, now probably no longer available new, is still hugely useful). The laptop is too touchy for comfort, and any writing I do on the Alpha-Smart needs to be cabled into my computer so I can edit the text comfortably, so that’s a two-step process. What to do?
So far I have two solutions:
(1) Make better time boundaries between day job and writing, so my writing sessions can be less troubled. Heather, your advice to write first thing in the morning helps here.
(2) Start a Word file on my work computer named FRAGMENTS (yes, all caps so I can find it easily) and whenever a thought about my writing project or any stray interesting thought visits my head, switch to that file and get it down. Anything that pertains to my project can be copied and pasted later.
Although I’m a firm proponent of writing by hand, the connection between my head and my fingers has strengthened over the years, and I type faster than I write, which makes this system fairly efficient. (And since I’m my own boss, no boss is looking over my shoulder or into my computer.)
I still have to meet my work deadlines, but how I meet them is under my control—just like carving out writing time and inventing devices to expand mindspace.
Thanks, Anna. Your suggestions are excellent. A good friend of mine uses one of those Alpha-smart machines for drafting so that she can’t stew over the story as she’s drafting. I’m not sure I could do that comfortably but I find the idea intriguing. My friend is very successful with it. Whatever works!
After reading this I feel inspired and empowered. Thank you, Heather.
To answer, for me it begins with intent and focus. When this is lacking, it helps to trust in the ebb and flow–to continue to create I need to nurture.
Nurturing is definitely the key. I think we need to coax ourselves into work sometimes. But so happy to hear you feel inspired! That’s my goal. Happy writing!
Great tips Heather!
I’m going a bit mad in this regard right now because I’m a temporary single mom while my husband works away. So carving out time is extra hard.
To Don’s point about finding mental space amidst chaos, I agree to a point. I’ve certainly benefited from learning to write in smaller chunks, grabbing time as I can and working around mom chauffeur duties, etc.
But when everyone is bustling around the house, it’s hard to relax and get into the creative flow. I know I risk sounding sexist here, but I think it’s harder for women, particularly moms. We’re used to multitasking and keeping everyone’s schedule straight, and sorting out what has to happen during the day. So when we can hear things going on all around us, it’s hard to turn that “mom” part off to create. My husband can go to his home office and totally tune us all out. I have a much harder time doing this even when my family gives me space. That part of my brain doesn’t want to shut off easily.
(I realize I’m generalizing and that there are dads and other caregivers that fill this role in their households and whose radar is always on, too. )
I treasure the moments when the house is totally empty and quiet and I can truly tune into my story.
Thanks for stopping by, Sheri! I agree with you, actually. Sure, it’s a generalization about moms vs. dads, but there’s biology mixed in here somewhere,too. The female brain is designed to multi-task and also to have a crazy sonar-like ability to listen to a lot of things at once. It’s all about keeping our young alive. So yes, my husband, who focuses intently but on one thing at a time is the same way–he can ignore everything quite easily. I wish I had that ability, but I have to have everyone gone for sure. Here’s to a productive writing week!