I had company for the first week of November. My sister came and it was wonderful. I even kept up my daily writing—though I did skip a blog posting.
Slacking off on writing came after she left. Then last night, or early this morning, I lay awake for a long time, my thoughts circling and circling, telling me over and over to call about the water heater (but no insights, nothing useful for the current story).
At some point, I realized that I have to get myself back to work at writing. Writing is my best cure for insomnia. In the words of the song:
“Pick yourself up, dust yourself off,and start all over again.”
Right Brain
I think I’m all Right Brain
I’m going to confess to a writing technique which actually illustrates what’s going on in my head. My busy left brain gets over-active when I neglect the right (write) brain. That quiet side of me is where stories come from.
A long-time friend advised me to talk to the right brain before beginning a writing session. Sitting in a quiet room, I write down a question with my right hand, switch the pen to the left and wait. Sometimes it takes a while, but eventually an illegible answer gets written. Fortunately, the words also resound in my mind!
Why am I telling you my secrets?
The left brain is way too powerful—and I need to be reminded of that. So telling you reminds me to look for the quiet places to find my answers. Hopefully, I’ll sleep tonight.
Kate Harrington 