Have you ever had times when you feel like you can't function cause your mind is running a thousand miles a second with fifty thousand different things? Or that you have this constant nagging of characters, a piece of dialogue, or the hint of something that is just laying a waiting for when you don't have the time to work on it.
Well ladies and gents I get this alot. It's one of the many downfalls of having ADD and an active creative mind. It get so many things going on in the real life on top of chasing my dream of being a literary agent and writer, that my brain feels like it will spontaneously explode at any second and I will lose every idea that I've been waiting and wanting to work on for who knows how long.
How do I deal with all these crazy brain chaos? Well if you hadn't figured it out by now... I write. It doesn't have to be good writing at first. It just has to make sense to me when I go back to edit. It's in the editing where the real work comes in. What I have to make my writing be not only readable but make it so that people can actually understand everything that I'm trying to say? Say what? Yup I know its a crazy thought right?
Well, it's not. The whole point of writing a novel is that so people will read it. I guess you could write a novel for yourself only, but I'm not one of those people. As nerve racking as it is to have people read my work, I want to get it out there. I want to be able to transport people in to another world that I've created for them.
Back to the brain so full that it's going to explode. So yes, I write to drain all this excess activity so that I can function properly, but that doesn't mean that I have time to sit down at my computer to properly write. Nope Iam a huge fan of notebooks. I pretty much have one notebook per idea, and a general one that I keep with me at all times. That way if I get a pestering idea that wont leave me alone, I can flush it out on to the page when I'm on the bus, on lunch or whenever I have two seconds to spair. It is later at home that I can transfer and expand that nagging piece of information in to the proper notebook so that I can go back when I need to look at the references, when editing or working on the actual novel.
Sounds chaotic and more work than what is needed right? Well, yes I guess it can be. But in the end I'm working full time in an office an hour away from home and can't always get the time at a computer. Plus I always know which notebook goes for what and I rather have a notebook of notes that I can have fun with later putting the pieces together. Kind of like a puzzle. My brain is a little weird, and that is what makes me so lovable. Or so I like to tell myself. But in the end if I'm able to flush my brain of its over activity, I am then able to work on the things that are on the top of the priority list.
One day though I'm hoping that my writing will be able to take top of this list, but alas being a newbie in the industry, I still have to work full time in an office to be able to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. But I'm not going to let that stand in my way with my overactive imagination.
Nope me and my 'Oh my god, my brain is going to explode if I don't get this down on paper soon,' will be working our collective butts off till we make it. Just will take longer than we'd might like, but I'm patient and determined.
So if you ever have a brain that feels like its going to explode....write what's going on down. Don't think about what you want to write or where you want it to go. Just flush it all out on to the paper. Once your relaxed and back to normal can you go back and make the gibberish into legible genus that everyone will be dying to read. Though I do have to admit, that editing grammer is my major weakness. Being Dislexic doesn't help. No matter how hard I look at something, I just can't see it. That's what good friends and professional editors are for right? Well yes, but still you have to make it so that people can stand reading it even if there are a few annoying errors.
Keep up the creativity and get it down on paper. If you don't write it, it will never get done. And I want to read your work. Good luck all and happy adventures!
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