My arms rhythmically move, pulling me through the water in a steady, smooth glide. In the back of my head, I’m counting, “One, two, breathe. One, two, breathe.” But at the forefront of my mind, I’m a steel dragon covered in soot and rust and hiding beneath a dumpster while three street boys search for parts to sell. They’ll tear me apart if they find me. I’m trying to decide if I should run away or attack because hiding isn’t going to be an option much longer. And then I’m following the possibilities when I do each of those.
I’ve written before about how the brain acts like a muscle, the more you work certain aspects of it, the stronger it gets. But no matter how many times I experience it, I’m always surprised when my brain starts processing something without me really planning it.
This happened while swimming the other morning. I’m in the rhythm of my workout and suddenly realize I have half an outline for the next adventure book mapped out in my head. I needed a notebook fast! And water and paper don’t go hand-in-hand. *Sigh*. Guess it’s time to start working on the memory aspect of my brain. 🙂
All that to say, the editing and writing are going well. It’s always slower than I want but it’s an amazing feeling to see each story, HMII and Zap Dragon, start to come together. And it’s even more amazing when my brain flips from resisting the process to assisting it without my prior planning!
Hopefully, that’s an encouragement to whatever you’re working on right now. Persistence does pay off.
Blessings,
Jennifer
P.S. The HMII developmental edit is 76% done! Zap Dragon is with the illustrator and I’ll jump into editing it soon 🙂
I’ve been there, Jennifer. The inspiration for a poem for my father’s 65th birthday came to me while I was running. I had to go over and over it in my head until I got home and could write it all down. Same with a song I wrote on an airplane. I wrote down the lyrics but had to “hum” the melody in my head until I could get to a piano and write it down.
These days, when I dedicate my mind to the Lord at the beginning of the day, I ask Him to help me remember what I need to remember and forget what’s best forgotten, or just plain brain clutter. 😉 I’ve known Him to remind me of important things just in time, and the other day I forgot a gag that I later realized might have really offended someone if I had remembered it!
It always seems to be moments like that when a pen and paper isn’t handy! I’ve asked the Lord to help me remember things, especially when it’s something important that’ll make a difference for someone else, but I really like the part about helping you do away with brain clutter! I’ll have to remember that…no pun intended 🙂
[…] for weeks but nothing felt quite right. Then, as I lay there, this starts taking shape. Just like I wrote last week, the brain’s a crazy thing that grows stronger with use. I’ve been demanding editing […]
Agatha Christie once said that “the best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.” Given how many of my best ideas come to me when I’m nowhere near my laptop, I think she was onto something! 😉
I like that quote! She was definitely onto something 🙂
I love this! Lovee seeing about other writers’ processes and how ideas come!
Me too 🙂 there’s no set way to find inspiration!
So true! The more you use it, the stronger it gets! And I like the thought that my brain has “Muscle memory”! What I think about most becomes where I most easily go to ….. Just like anything else, practice, practice, practice!
Muscle memory! Somehow that term didn’t come into my head as I wrote this but it’s perfect 🙂
Memory, 1 thing is remembered fairly easy, 2nd thing it’s time to concentrate then comes the third and if I’m fast at follow through maybe that grocery list is not necessary, but lets face it the paper and pen really makes a difference. When the forth item comes to mind there’s a good chance something else is going to fall off the shelf (brain) and be lost in another space, somewhere.
Lol 😂 yup. That sounds exactly right!
Just keep swimming!!
Seems to help 😉😊