Respect the Brain

A simple blog today, with short and simple advice.

Sometimes I find my mind wandering -- daydreams, stories, flights of fancy. I might be thinking of my next project or I might just be off on a tangent.

Something similar sometimes happens when I’m writing. The next sentence doesn’t turn out to be what I first intended. The plots and characters and dialogue go off in unexpected directions.

If this happens to you, my advice is to let it.  Let your daydreams fly, to whatever extent your current obligations and duties allow.

The reason is simple. You can always edit later, you can always rewrite and even delete if you need to, but you will never get this exact same information out of  your brain again.  If your creativity is engaged, if your mind is doing the work for you, take full advantage.

I’ve tried coming back to it later.  Believe me, I’ve tried. It’s never as good. If I knew what caused these bouts of creativity, I’d have a lot more money than I do now.

But I know enough to respect them when they occur.