My Brain Did Me a Dirty

Part of the mania of being a writer is that you never know when inspiration- translated a complete obsession to write down and brain dump an idea- will hit you.

My two year old son asked for a story at bedtime- I did not want to get up and get a book because it was late and so I made up a story. When I was done- he said it was a good story, and promptly nodded off. Technically I went to sleep but I left my brain on.

I woke up early- too early and had to write the story down, which I did with my fountain pen and paper from my printer.

What happened was Dr Seussian in complete iambic pentameter.

I am not a children's story writer and surely I am not a poet. But when I was done- 6 pages later I realized my brain had done me a dirty.

It had taken some serious social and societal issues from my past as a social worker and from my own personal family struggles- and had turned them it into anthropomorphic animal characters. I re-read it a couple of times out loud to my family- and realized my subconscious was giggling in the back room of my mind.

This is how creative writing occurs- not with our waking, rational mind- that is the fodder of journalistic integrity based on facts not folly.

No, true creative writing comes from that back room- and when that door opened, I could not concentrate on anything else. I had to write it from beginning to end. Then I typed it from beginning to end. Then I had my first cup of coffee and pondered  my sanity- I created rhyme? A children's story with a moral undertone as a mirror to the atrocities of what happens to children caught in the court system and between warring families? WTF?

Now what?

I can't draw worth a spit, so do I need an illustrator? Do I just pitch it somewhere and hope they pair me with an artist? Do I submit it to a ....uhh.... poetry contest? (seems very foreign to me because I NEVER saw myself writing that sort of prose).

Help me folks- I am in new territory here.

Brain Bridges- Part 1 - Professional Speakers and Brain Lag

I have different methods for writing fiction and non-fiction, and this is because I believe that we use different parts of our brain when we are writing, editing and dictating. I am creating a series of posts that explore how we write and offer some solutions to make your writing better through some unconventional methods.

When we are speaking, we are using a part of our brain involved with the production of speech. (I won't bore you with the anatomy, just realize that different parts of your brain control different functions).

I work with a lot of professional speakers and they have developed the part of the brain with reciting facts, and ideas, and depending on the type of talk they are doing they may be using the creative part of their brain, rather than the one that is involved in memory recitation. Some of these speakers are great at doing improv, while others are not.

If they add a visual element to their talk this may be distracting to them, unless they can either ignore it or have a strong bridge between the visual parts of their brain and the verbal parts. The concept of bridging is important, because when we are young we develop these pathways in our brain. Throughout our lives we continue to develop more bridges, but they are more difficult and harder to form. These are actual neural connects in our brain- think of them as roots of one tree connecting to another tree. They intertwine and fuse together. The more connections, the stronger the connections.

If  a speaker does not have a strong connection between their auditory, verbal, and visual parts of their brain, they may get tripped up and pause, and become distracted. Consider that computer you are using right now- when you have too many windows open or the computer is doing large processes, there can be a lag. The better and more integrated the components are, the greater the speed and their is less lag.

SOLUTION-

1. First you must assess if you speak and can have distractions such as sound and visual components going on at the same time.

2. If you are find you are pausing in your speaking, then remove some of the components one by one to determine where the lag is occurring.

3. Decide whether the components that are lagging you are important- if not ditch them. If they are- then you have to practice over and over again to strengthen the bridge. It's hard work, much like physical exercise, because you are actually changing the physiology and structure in your brain. You are growing connections.

4. Reassess often and determine your progress- go through steps 1-3 again.




In the next installment- You will learn why speakers don't always make the best writers.

Wine, Brownies, and Talks of Commas

When two writers meet, eventually the conversation turns toward grammar. It was not surprising that over some grilled meat and wine, that my mother-in-law and I talked about commas.

"I like the posts on grammar on Facebook," she offered.

In this picture- a comma saves people's lives!

"It's rabbit season!"

"No, it's pedestrian season!"

We began discussing the evolution of the use of a comma, and some of people's use or more importantly lack of use.

Example:

There is a bridge spanning the river from Davenport, Iowa, to Moline, Illinois.

Is there a new kind of grammar that allows us to write:

There is a bridge spanning the river from Davenport Iowa to Moline Illinois.

There are arguments on both sides ( I will take a stand that the first one is correct).

My wife's family and I drank "Barn Dance Red" red wine from Tabor Wineries, which is a winery in a century old farm near the small town of Baldwin, in Eastern Iowa. We ate chocolate brownies that were only made more delicious with the wine we were sipping.

The discussion turned to 'which' and 'that'. These are grammar rules that we were not taught but that spell checker on Microsoft Word often picks up. The rule is if you use the word 'that' you do not need a comma, but if you use the word 'which' you have to use a comma before the phrase it begins. An example is a sentence I already used.

"My wife's family and I drank "Barn Dance Red" red wine from Tabor Wineries, which is a winery in a century old farm near the small town of Baldwin, in Eastern Iowa."

We ended the discussion, and our wine with a final quandary. Why was Word so hung up on passive voice? There are sentences that just would not work any better way, so why does Word have to point out every instance. Sure, an active voice is important and more compelling, but can't we just relax and be passive sometimes? You know- sit and sip some red wine and pair it with some double fudge brownies?