Have you ever had the BEST writing idea come to you in the middle of the night, or just as you're nodding off? I think we all have. A perfect line, an entire haiku, or the elusive title to your latest W.I.P., like a vision, only to be lost come morning. Conversely, how many times do we sit down to write, pen poised, or with a fully-charged laptop, only to be faced with a blank page, which remains resolutely blankety blank, despite our best efforts?
Today was a planning day. A day to consider marketing, promotion, website updates and so on. I began, and then I stalled. I was distracted by Twitter (counts as networking??), nagging household jobs (kitchen table day today, not writing shed), and a hundred other things, one of which, inevitably, was the thought that I should be writing! So, I gave up, put aside the laptop, and got out the ironing board.
It turns out that the part of my brain which conjures up poems at 11.30pm in that liminal space between wakefulness and sleep, also kicks into gear when faced with the mundane task of ironing fifteen school shirts on a Monday afternoon. Cue me, ironing, laptop open on the kitchen bench, notes app open on my phone next to it, and a flood of ideas. I did not finish the ironing.
I suppose what I'm trying to say, is that I gave my brain some space. I let it meander, wander, and find its own sweet path, rather than fastening it into a metaphorical vice and attempting to squeeze something out of it. And miraculously, the Blankety Blank turned into an actual Something.
Try it, it might just work for you, too.
