Taking Time Off From Actually Putting Hands on a keyboard

[Rebecca B. Swets]

Do you ever write by "not writing"? in other words, do you ever stop typing, walk away from the keyboard, but still have the book going on in your head, scenes scrolling by on the movie screen in your mind....ideas percolating....? Anybody?

[Camille LaGuire]

All the time. Very often I have to get away from the keyboard to let things roll in my head a bit, before I can sit back down and get it right.

And, of course, many times when I mean to stop writing, I still have the thing rolling through my head. (I've said on my blog before "Don't write and drive.")

For those times when I actually need to get away (like when my brain is utterly exhausted) I have a couple of techniques. The first is simply extensive note taking. I step back from the keyboard and scribble down everything that occurs to me. (As productivity guru David Allen says - you have to write it down to get it out of your head.) Then I might try musing on another story, a different kind of story. Or I'll read or watch a movie - again, often one with a different tone. This stops my thought processes enough to let my head rest.

Of course, I usually don't want to do that, but now and then it's useful.