In addition to my self-assigned task of drafting a novel, and the pen-for-hire work I do for a major medical center, I write five essays a month: two posts for this blog, two Commentaries for Vermont Public Radio, and a column for The Commons, my local, independent, newspaper. The wonderful thing about these essays is that I get to write about whatever I want to, within generous parameters: For Live to Write, Write to Live, I write about the writing life; for the radio, I write about Vermont life; and for the newspaper, I write about life in Windham County.
Most of the time, I have plenty to say, and the challenge is to focus on a single topic in an interesting and informative way. But every once in a while, I find myself hyperventilating with anxiety because my deadline is fast approaching and I’m parched for ideas.
Somehow, I’ve always managed to squeak something out, but I don’t like the race the to wire, so I’ve developed a two-fold strategy to avoid this eleventh-hour brinksmanship: I keep lists of ideas, and I walk.
My lists are like a safe-deposit box filled with uncut gemstones. When I need to find a topic, I open the box and sift through the raw ideas until I find one whose heft feels right. I rub my thumb along a rough edge, turn it in the light, and pocket it for further examination. Some of these stored ideas spend years in the box – until the season or politics or moment is just right, and some may never see the light of day.
Once I choose a rough idea, I pocket it in the back of my mind. Just carrying it around for a bit helps me think my way around an idea while I’m performing other tasks of daily life. But when I’m ready to get serious about thinking something through, I go for a walk.
I walk a lot – four to six miles a day. It is during this walk that I find my way in to an essay – often I hear the first line, which gives me the voice and the conceit of the piece. When I return to my desk, I write. Sometimes, I hear this voice before I’ve reached the end of the drive, and sometimes, I don’t hear it until I’ve climbed to the top of the hill. Once I’ve got it, I look up and see where I am, sometimes noticing the weather or landscape for the first time that day.
Walking is not the only way I find my way in to an essay, but it is my favorite. I can also let my mind freewheel when I’m at the wheel of the car. I keep a notebook and pen on board, so I can make notes when I arrive at my outward destination, in order to remember these ideas when I return home. There must be something about forward motion that helps me shake ideas into place.
In addition to warehousing ideas so that I can meet my deadlines, these strategies provide other satisfactions: When I’ve used an idea, I enjoy crossing it off the list; and when I’ve figured out my way in to an essay, I enjoy the exercise and fresh air of my walk.
How do you find topics to write about?
Deborah Lee Luskin is novelist, essayist and educator. She is a regular commentator for Vermont Public Radio, a Visiting Scholar for the Vermont Humanities Council and the author of the award winning novel, Into The Wilderness. For more information, visit her website at www.deborahleeluskin.com
[gemstone image from http://galaxygemsbrazil.com]
I steal them. When I hear or read a good line I write it down and use it in my next piece or veer off from it. This also applies to topics: if someone writes about their fifth grade teacher, I’ll start writing about Mrs. Swann and her dandelion-puff hair-do.
The beauty of writing is that each of us has such an individual, particular, experience, even of the same stimulus – like a fifth-grade teacher (or a dandelion-puff hair-do, which would be my Aunt Fay).
Thanks for writing.
Thanks – I really enjoyed reading this. I will think of my ideas as gemstones from now on!
Walking works for me too – unless I forget to bring a notepad with me, in which case I have been known to ring up my partner and order him to write something down for me. So long as I have a keyword written down I can usually tap into the original idea I had on my walk
I love the idea of making emergency phone calls to a scribe! Of course, this wouldn’t work in rural Vermont, where I walk, as we have little-to-no cell service. But one of the things I like about my walks is that they are electronic-free times for me.
Thanks for writing.
Deborah.
I have exactly the same experience while walking. When I get stuck, I go where my stories are set; Enchanted Rock SNA. I made at least 100 walks there last year, most between 1 and 2 hours. When the negative voices silence, ideas pop into my head. Yesterday, I realized I needed to know if it was legal to carry a concealed handgun in the park if you have the license. I don’t know why, but it must be important. I am just walking on the trail when suddenly it hits me: “AHA! That’s what happens!” Some are tiny ideas, one word or phrase, or just a simple concept. Enchanted Rock Red has a writer as a character who brings up a quote about writing/walking. Love it!
Robert –
Thanks for this story. It is somehow reassuring to know that other writers also find ambulation conducive to narration!
Thanks for writing,
Deborah.
Mine usually hit me while in the shower; not just writing ideas but insights into day to day problems as well. I don’t know what it is, but things always become clearer when I step in there. I then have to make a mental note to write them down soon as I step out. Focusing on a few key words usually helps me not to forget.
Hi,
This demonstrates that we all have our own places and ways of finding those uncut gems that we can write and polish. Thank you for writing – I’ll be thinking of you next time I’m in the shower!
I walk to school to pick up the kids – along river road — and by the time I get there I have to take a piece of paper out of the school recycling to write down my list of rough gems!
Hi Jennifer – How nice to meet you in cyberspace. I love the idea of using paper from the recycling bin. It always suits me to write rough ideas on scraps of paper – nothing too polished or fine for those nascent ideas . . .
Best, Deborah.
Deborah, I totally depend upon my own 4-6 mile daily walks AND my interactions with my dogs and cats to fill out the vague outlines of new characters and new actions in my narrative poetry series. Thank goodness, I have an inborn sense of direction, or I would often get quite lost on my walks as I write in my head.
Hi Granbee,
I don’t have a good sense of direction, which is why I walk planned routes. Ironically, while I’m walking I find narrative direction, but when I look up, it takes a few moments to figure out where I am in the physical world!
Best, Deborah.
A lot of times, I find the title first..in conversations, news headlines, sales brochures, the old mags in doctors’ waiting rooms. The title usually just jumps right out at me, trailing a thought behind it. Or the ideas steal into the last wakeful corner of my brain before sleep–sometimes I even remember them the next day;-) Thank you so much for your blogs–I find inspiration AND plain enjoyment in them, along with a very healthy dose of good grammar and construction as well!
Glad your find inspiration and enjoyment. Thanks very much for the compliment –
All best,
Deborah.
Thanks. I like the practical advice about walking and writing. I’m walking more often these days during my workday breaks but typically I listen to a book to escape from work demands (perhaps I need to unplug and let my mind wander). I’m still chewing on and appreciate your comment about walking and how “often I hear the first line, that which gives me the voice and the conceit of the piece.” Thanks.
Listening to audio books and escaping from work demands are all good, but if “often I hear the first line, that which gives me the voice and the conceit of the piece” resonates – go with it. Let me know if it works for you. Hope it does.
Thanks for writing,
Deborah.
you know what, I hyperventilate whenever I forgot to carry my pocket notebook and a pen, especially when a juicy line for my poem rose from my head, that is crazy! Second, bright ideas came to me in not so conducive settings for a writer: standing inside a bus, walking in human-filled pedestrian lane,and many of sorts. I know you understand this, being a writer yourself. I could clearly relate on this post, thank you for posting! 🙂
Yes! Ideas strike at all times. Our job is to capture the spark of inspiration – and then make good on them.
Good luck! And thanks for writing,
Deborah.
Great blog! I haven’t been able to do my usual routine of walking or using machines. It’s hard to take my notebook or even my phone – which has some pretty cool aps in the pool. I have found, that using the voice recording device on my phone is helpful on the drive home. Last week the DR. said I could add some other cardio in – sweet! Soon I’ll be back on the trails with my notebook stuffed in my backpack! Mine don’t even have to be gemstones – I have some pretty nifty rocks in my collection. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ellie,
Sounds like you’re on a recovery route – and doing well. Best wishes for continued healing – Deborah.
I left it late to reply to this post, because I wanted to take the time to read it properly and answer it thoughtfully.
I am always struggling with this inspiration vs. transcription challenge. I sometimes feel I hear voices and have to rush to jot words, phrases or sometimes whole paragraphs down before I forget. Invariably, I will forget them if I leave them for even 2-3 minutes. Even if I try to repeat them over and over in my head until I get the chance to write them down, I can never quite recapture that original impulse. I thought I was unique getting ideas in the shower or bathroom, but it turns out quite a few people do that (must have something to do with being away from electronic things for a while). Don’t really want to start using lipstick on the bathroom mirror, but of course cannot take a notebook inside with me…
But walking is really good for working things out, whether it’s finding a topic, an opening line or the solution to some tricky problem in your writing. I do end up talking to myself – luckily, usually in remote locations, so no one can label me ‘the mad old woman with the invisible dog’.
Someone who even thinks of taking notes with lipstick or seeing herself as a mad old women with the invisible dog does not lack for imagination! So this is where I offer the flip side to forward motion, which is stillness. Yes, ideas seem to shake into place when I’m walking, driving, rowing – moving along a narrative line; but occasionally, I find stillness useful: sitting quietly and just allowing the ideas to fall into place, like snow forming a lovely drift. I suspect our memories for ideas is better than we give ourselves credit for, especially if we relax and let them expand inside our quiet minds rather than violently shake our heads in an attempt to frighten them into the spotlight.
Hope this makes sense –
Thanks for your comment, Deborah.
Nice article Deborah!!
Great post! You are very ambitious and it’s encouraging to know I am not the only writer who makes lists for future use. I have files on my computer in categories for ideas: short stories, poems, essays, potential book outlines. I also have a hard copy file entitled IDEAS. In this file I might put an advertisement, another person’s story, a picture, whatever – a real mish-mash of stuff! Most of it has scribbled notes for ideas that have come to mind as a result of the effect those things have on me, either emotionally or visually. Sometimes when I go through it later I say, “Yuck. No, gotta go!” but more often than not, it helps me kickstart the creative process for the day. Sometimes I use them for prompts too.
It’s nteresting how we all find those “gemstones.” I love some of the other comments here.
My favorite gemstones come from my dreams. When I exercise I don’t think creatively, for some reason but when I sleep – watch out! 🙂
The worst gemstones come when I’m in the middle of a shower – when I can’t get to a pen or paper! LOL
I have been a paranoid schizophrenic much of my adult life when in high school and early college years I used to write short stories for my college annual magazine which were liked by very many after onset of schizophrenia many suggested to me to write seriously, my sister who teaches English in college suggests I write about my condition truthfully in detail from the beginning it is the interesting and make it an eye-opener, would you believe a paranoid schizophrenic can have in him to churn out a big book would like to read hindsights from you
Yes, I most certainly believe that someone with paranoid schizophrenia can write a eye-opening book about the condition and encourage you to do so! Thanks for being in touch.