My favorite time to write is when everybody is gone. Sometimes I turn off all the lights and use candles. I try to make it a relaxing experience and to cut myself away from the world. I love late nights and super early mornings. I have caught myself writing when the sunrises and then going to bed. I prefer schedules where I have mornings off so I can do this, and then catch up with my day later if need be. This is one of my favorite ways to write, but I think the trick is writing even when you're surrounded by noise. By writing in silence I'm able to teach myself some of the tricks that relax me, but writing in busy computer labs or on airplanes is possible if I can hone in on my brain. I tend to be more in my head than my physical reality anyway, so it's not the most distracting to be around peers, folks, or strangers. It's when that personal, private life decides to catch up and throw a curve ball. I enjoy solving problems and processing through them. I try to keep things lights, so if I delve into the heavy the main culprit is I've probably overloaded myself and thus it's an internal battle.
Airplane writing is a blast. I think my imagination goes into high gear when I'm flying 1,000s of miles above the planet. International flights are the best; there's far more interesting people to watch, there's only so many things I can do on a 7 or more hour flight. Only problem is laptops have limited battery power and handwritten notes are great until you have to spend extra time typing them up. When flying with the sun and there's the odd time difference, I can't help but think in deeper of ways. Every time I fly over the ocean I wonder what it was like for the early pioneering pilgrims to sail for three months just to make it to a new world. All my flight journeys are less than a day, but centuries ago my ancestors spent whole seasons on potentially life or death voyages. And while flying who knows what they are flying over from beasts deep below in the ocean, animals on the ground, or birds in the air. It's a whole lot more compelling than driving around Springfield.
I also have a confession. I dance frequently when I write. I don't know how this started; it's ridiculous. I suppose it's a great idea because it keeps me active rather than sedentary. Dancing frees up my mind. It enables me to focus on what I need to visualize story wise. I find that if I'm thinking beyond a 12 minute session than I've probably found myself beyond a short project. Real time definitely correlates to page length for me. These ridiculous dance skills have improved over the years -- I've almost fooled myself into thinking I could be a dance choreographer. I also think about being an astronaut, so I don't always take my fancies seriously.
Eating has a unique relationship with the way I write. I avoid caffeine because I think I may be the most sensitive person on the planet. Sure, it can give me breakthroughs in ideas or 30 pages in a sitting, but I think whatever chemically I am sees it like most would speed. I'm already a fairly high energy person, but I try to avoid anything that will throw me off because it's usually explosive amounts of distracting joy. I am the weirdest person... sticking to healthier eating habits and curbing caffeine keeps me on task. If I can spend a week just eating vegetables and drinking water it tends to have better focus and health results all around.
No comments:
Post a Comment