So if you want to write books for a living, you have to train your brain to speed up your production. Eric Whitchey gave a great presentation on “Unlocking Your Creativity” this evening at the Willamette Writer’s monthly meeting. Eric is a freelance writer, communications consultant, author of numerous short stories and several novels, and has produced lots of how-to articles. I appreciated his wit and thoughtful points about achieving a ‘creative state’ and maintaining it. Like most other physical attributes, you have to practice. Pick any topic and write about it for 15 minutes. Do this frequently for 90 days and you will observe that your production rate increases.
I often write to music as many authors do. For me, I want to achieve a certain mood and mask distractions. Eric advocates music or other sounds that have a frequency or tempo. The faster the tempo, the better your production. I have kind of sensed this but Eric indicated that this is true and has been proven by studying writers, including himself.
Another trick to keep your brain functioning in a creative state is to write as fast as you can for 25 to 45 minutes then take a 10 to 15 minute break. He likes the 45 minute approach. And if you limit a break to not more than 15 minutes you can get right back into your creative state.
Sounds like a commercial for a wonder drug. Follow the regimen for 90 days and you will be producing a novel in a week. Well, maybe a month. Okay, so you give your brain a vacation and it takes three months. Now if I can just come up with a way to speed up the editing.
