Pre-Writing in My Sleep

    Pre-Writing in My Sleep

Dezri Rochin

Aaaaah, how does one go about organizing inspired work before writing one's literary masterpiece? I have heard everything from drafting lists of words associated with my topic to free writing non-stop for 10 minutes at a time. Some people like idea trees and idea circles.

I am more a fan of free writing like a maniac. I am also most comfortable starting out with pencil and paper before moving on to the lap top. I usually begin with a central statement and play with that for a while. I suppose this my version of diagraming, but messier.

Often times I will go to the thesaurus and look up words relating to my topic. I will write them down one side of my handwritten paper. This, however, can be dangerous as it is easy to go off on tangents, which is fine.

In all honesty, it has been quite a long time since any of my professors have discussed the idea of pre-writing. I have just developed my own odd ways of getting the juices flowing. Some of them are kind of embarrassing. I like to write in bed. Sitting up, of course. It just feels comfy. I surround myself

with books and papers and my favorite tea cup. This is especially true in the winter when I can get under the covers. It is all about getting comfortable and relaxed.

I read an article about the importance of clearing your mind completely for at least five minutes per day so as to more readily allow the generation of fresh ideas. The author compared it to when you have lost your keys and are frantically looking for them. You never find them. But when you forget about it for a while and let go of the frustration, there they are. I find this to be true.

Often times complete outlines for essays will come to me as I am falling asleep or shortly thereafter. While this is cool, it is also a pain in the neck, because I have to get up and write or it is gone forever.

For me relaxation is key in pre-writing.