Robert Collier
My subconscious and I had an agreement this year, I’ll stop bad mouthing my writing and he’ll step up and get my writing done. I feel pretty confident he’s working hard for me right now.
Step 1. As soon as you wake in the morning hit the keyboard or grab a pen and a notepad. Sit down where you normally write and without stopping to think, write at “white hot speed” put down everything. No editing. No censoring. Do not read back what you are writing, keep writing, let one word flow from another. Do not try to make sense. If you do the writing flow might be interrupted. Do not reread. Write fast and furiously, let one word trigger the next. Shut your editing and judging brain off there will be time for them later. It’s time to let your subconscious take over. Keep writing until you feel a natural stop. Do not force it. The absolute minimum should be a page and a half, no maximum. If you find yourself in the flow keep writing until you feel the need to stop. This is not as easy as it sounds, you will want to reread, you will want to fix mistakes, you will want to edit. DON’T. Ray Bradbury calls this “vomiting on the page.” Stebel suggests you don’t take him literally. Just get everything out. And then do not read what you have written. If you want to follow this exercise it’s important not to read what you just spewed on the page. Tuck it away. Let it sit, work on other stuff…until next week.*
*I did this yesterday and I really have very little recollection of what I wrote, it will be very exciting to take it out next week for Step 2 of the process. Go Subconscious!
Now get back to work!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag