The anti-writer (not) at work
“…a huge amount of writing takes place in your subconscious mind. It is being formed by your inner thoughts before you become aware of it. … Your subconscious mind is toying with it and it will come to you – like a forgotten name or the clue to a crossword puzzle – when you cease thinking about it.” – Dermot Bolger in the Irish Times, Aug. 21, 2009
Irish writer Dermot Bolger should know. He’s published at least six novels, nine plays, six books of poetry, and more than a dozen things listed as “other.” (See bio at biography.jrank.org/pages/4160/Bolger-Dermot.html.)
Does our subconscious – or “under-mind,” as I call it – tackle work projects when we’re not at work? Wouldn’t it rather trip on fun things like swimming in the lake with the dog, throwing a birthday party for your spouse, hiking into wildflower canyons with your friends, traveling to Ireland, riding your bike.… Then again, if creating stories is so exciting, it makes sense the subconscious would compulsively chew on that when the “front mind” is otherwise busy. (Here’s a twist: If writing is so fun, why is it good friends with that nasty habit procrastination? That’s a left brain/right brain conundrum.)
I ask my mind to tackle some writing questions at night. I read my draft before falling asleep with the hope that a miracle will occur this side of the pillow. Sometimes it does. I have found, too, that when the writing gets tough, I close the door and leave. Best thing is to go for a bike-ride – after chugging some caffeine, which excites my imagination into a pedal-frenzy of brilliant riffs.
Lately I’ve fretted about how many hours, days, word-dense weeks it takes me to refine a story. I’d rather like to dash off wonderful things quickly, breezily, with a lightness of being that elevates the rest of my day. Dermot Bolger has given me a key. If I’m writing when I’m not writing, and if that non-writing time is when the “aha’s” bloom from the void, then I need to spend less time in front of the screen and more time in real life. More time as an anti-writer. Right.