{"id":1251,"date":"2024-03-09T11:48:27","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T10:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2024-07-06T16:09:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T14:09:31","slug":"a-no-plan-plan-for-creative-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/2024\/03\/09\/a-no-plan-plan-for-creative-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"A No-Plan Plan for Creative Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Diving into Free-Writing Freedom<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This week, I\u2019ve decided to skip the usual thought processes that go into writing a weekly newsletter. Instead, I\u2019m sitting writing this morning with a completely open mind. With no plans, no outline, and, most importantly, no worries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve minimised the editing process to help illustrate how free writing can produce seemingly unrelated thoughts mixed together. But I\u2019m not worried; it\u2019ll all come out in the wash.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"The
A No-Plan Plan for Creative Writing: Source DALL-E 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My AI assistant suggests outlines, topics, or subtleties I hadn\u2019t considered. The actual writing is all human me. The assistant also advises me when I\u2019m being boring if I choose to listen.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

See more articles, posts, and discussions about business, project management, Generative AI and Creative Writing on Medium here<\/a>. If you have not already done so, subscribe to Medium<\/a>. Or follow me here<\/a> on Substack.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Side-Stepping Self-Doubt<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I find it all too easy to feel stressed whenever I write; I constantly question myself. Self-doubt could be overwhelming if I allowed it to take hold, a not-uncommon problem for creatives.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There\u2019s never any good reason to feel stressed about writing; either it\u2019s good or it\u2019s not. I don\u2019t depend on writing to earn a living, although that\u2019s an ambition. My writing for the last year has been about figuring out a process that works for me and balancing the time I spend with every other part of my busy life. I won\u2019t repeat myself; I wrote an entire newsletter (or two) about this recently. But it is important to be aware of being happy and content.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Charting the Course: A Solopreneur Strategy for Life’s Many Hats <\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve already discovered a minor problem when attempting to free-write. Fortunately, it\u2019s easily resolved. I should never, ever read what I\u2019ve just written, not yet, at least. I\u2019ve found that the free-writing process is much easier if I only look at the keyboard and not the display. Then, I\u2019m not thinking about the text, the syntax, or the coherence of the piece so much, and the words flow much more quickly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I think that is why I can never get into journaling, either a digital journal or, heavens forbid, a handwritten diary. Writing then means I can\u2019t help but see and reread what I\u2019ve written. Then, the self-doubts, the urge to edit this or that line three paragraphs earlier and so on, impede the flow of writing down the textual translation of thought.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The Vomit Draft: Eliminating Pressure<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This surprising free-writing discovery could also impact my long-form writing projects. The vomit or first draft can be written more quickly without any worries about the content\u2019s quality, which comes later in the editing process. I wonder if this little mind trick is the push I\u2019ve been searching for. I guess I\u2019ll find out soon enough.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Then there\u2019s also the time pressure of writing a weekly piece, the self-imposed deadlines, and the stress of other aspects of daily life, impacting any planned writing time. Perhaps this is another area that I need to think about. Every podcast, book, or course on writing, especially fiction writing, insists that we plan and follow through on fixed writing time every week.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve tried that; again, I wrote about this subject a few weeks ago. Perhaps, for me, it isn\u2019t the most productive path to follow. This is another thing to think about, not just yet. First, I want to hit my target word count or be close to it. A target is something I can live with and, in fact, quite enjoy. Glancing at the word count in Ulysses or Scrivener should be the only time I should pay attention to the display in the first draft process. But I need a bit of self-discipline to not glance through the previous paragraphs for today.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Being a Writer Doesn\u2019t Have a Start Date <\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Taking Breaks and Enjoying Life<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, here I am, a gorgeous Friday morning, sitting at the small desk in our living room. The dogs are perched on the top of the sofa, basking in the sun and waiting for the excitement of seeing other dogs pass by in front of our house. At this point, they bark loudly, attempting to warn the other dogs away. After all, this is their street, and how dare these strangers invade their private space.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"This
The Boys Basking in the Sun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here comes that time pressure again; I promised my wife we would go out for lunch today. I\u2019m looking forward to it, too, as she has been away for two weeks and only got home later last night. After that, we\u2019ll take a stroll in Maastricht, chill out, and enjoy the rare sunny day. But I\u2019m not showered yet, and it\u2019s getting late in the morning.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, this is going to be another test. I\u2019m pausing the writing for ten minutes or so. When I get back to the keyboard, will I be able to continue with the same mindset as now?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, that was a 30-minute break. Guess what? Nothing has changed. I can still free-write, picking up where I left off.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Editing addendum on Saturday morning. I\u2019m polishing up the piece; it\u2019s almost ready to publish. The dogs, however, have other ideas. They\u2019re in their usual spot and pushing me to go for a walk. I know it\u2019ll do me good, and it\u2019s another lovely morning. The point is not to fight it; that will guarantee the killing of any hope of creativity. Go with the flow. I would have sat in my office if I wanted peace and quiet. Ho hum.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The Minimal Toolset: Keeping It Super Simple<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Over the past fourteen months, I have narrowed down my toolset for all forms of creative writing. The applications are simple and few. I use Ulysses for short-form writing, Scrivener for long-form writing projects, ChatGPT 4 for research suggestions for improvement and general feedback, and Grammarly to correct the most common mistakes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For any AI naysayer, the tools I use are just that: tools. The creativity all comes from me. After all, no AI, no matter how large and performant, has my particular life experience. And, of course, an individual\u2019s life experience is the source of all creativity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There are a few annoying quirks that must be accepted and ignored. Grammarly hates the word \u2018important\u2019. It insists that it should be changed to essential or some other guff. But every time I use the word, Grammarly suggest I change it. Get over it already; when I write important, I mean important. Ok?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The hardware has also changed over the last year. It\u2019s nothing complicated: an M2 13-inch MacBook Air paired with a Logitech MX Keys Mini Mechanical keyboard and a Logitech MX Master 3S. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I tried swapping back to the laptop keyboard; it feels so unwieldy after the mechanical. Good for most things, but for me, my trusty mechanical keyboard is the bee\u2019s knees.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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I allowed myself to glance over today\u2019s writing; the editing will be fun. I\u2019ll be sure to add a section for the writing process summary at the end of the newsletter,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Enough for now; I\u2019m off to lunch with my wife. \u00a0😉<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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An Unedited Glimpse into the Evolving Process<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Bearing in mind that this is an ongoing experiment, the process I\u2019ve used today can be broken down into a few distinct steps. Of course, this is short-form writing; I must try it out on my long-form writing projects.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \r\n
  • Few write to the target word count. For this piece, that was one thousand words.<\/li>\r\n
  • Run the entire text through Grammarly and accept the obvious corrections, but dismiss many suggestions. Important stays as important, for example.<\/li>\r\n
  • Editing can be a bit challenging when free writing is involved. The muse takes you from pillar to post and back again, so the paragraphs must be reorganised to ensure that the finished article reads as a coherent whole.<\/li>\r\n
  • Figure out, often with the help of ChatGPT, a good title, subtitle, and some decent section headers. I often find AI-generated suggestions okay but too generic for my tastes. Where they do help, though, is to give me better ideas and different approaches.<\/li>\r\n
  • Add images with honest captions and detailed alt-text.<\/li>\r\n
  • Add links to previous related newsletters.<\/li>\r\n
  • Publish<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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    Final Thoughts<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    So, what was the subject of this week\u2019s newsletter? Simply put, it\u2019s about writing this newsletter and my writing process in general.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    There are no tips; how could I be so presumptuous? Each writer\u2019s process is, by nature, specific to the writer. Perhaps there are a few things I\u2019ve talked about that may be worth experimenting with, but each to their own. There is no fast track to creating a process that sits perfectly for you, the unique writer. It takes time and a degree of self-awareness to figure out what works and what doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Even though I write these newsletters primarily for myself, I know some do read them through. If you get this fare, please comment. I\u2019m so curious to hear of the process variations of other creatives.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    What do you do that is different? Likely everything. What\u2019s your process? I\u2019d love to start a conversation, so please leave a comment or two.<\/p>\r\n

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    I apologise to my readers for some of the spellings you may feel are incorrect. I was born and brought up in the United Kingdom, and this is the spelling I am comfortable with (Grammarly is happy with it anyway).<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This week, I\u2019ve decided to skip the usual thought processes that go into writing a weekly newsletter. Instead, I\u2019m sitting writing this morning with a completely open mind. With no plans, no outline, and, most importantly, no worries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,40,24],"tags":[57,25,68,44,49],"class_list":["post-1251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creativity","category-taking-a-break","category-writing","tag-ceativity","tag-creative-writing","tag-focus","tag-self-awareness","tag-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1256,"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions\/1256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kodifyit.com\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}