Release the Brain Clutter

After discovering that I needed to simplify my complicated life, I took care of a little business. One thing in particular was very hard — yet not nearly as hard as I’d anticipated (is it ever?) – and within a few hours, my shoulders felt lighter (no easy feat with severe whiplash). Apparently, right place, right time, right decision. I’m not sure, but something clicked for me. The upshot of releasing brain clutter is that my shortened to-do list means less to worry about — less to forget.

That same brain clutter had directly affected my imagination and, consequently, my NIP suffered from severe plot deprivation. I couldn’t see my way around it and didn’t have the energy to screw with it. I was constantly spinning my wheels, yearning for direction, gazing into darkened deadends — all my “what-ifs” looking more like “so-whats.”

See, I’d decided my fully plotted novel needed a prequel and then later realized I had a big hole to fill for that prequel to stand on its own. I told myself I must write this 3-book series chronologically. I must start with the prequel and only then go on to the next two novels. This would have been okay, except that my imagination was lying deep down in that dark hole, buried flat-out under the shitstorm that had become my life. No wonder I couldn’t see the big conflicts and arcs my character needed. I was too busy trying to breathe through my own dung.

Today, I’m excited to sketch mind maps for scenes in my new novel. Just the act of performing this ”brain dump” is liberating. Praise the universe, my pen has been leaving legible trails all over my notebook pages. I definitely have more brain clutter to release, but like writing a novel, it’s a process. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I’ll release a little more into the atmosphere and bang out a full chapter.

© 2008, K. Jayne Cockrill