|
Section I
Preparing To Write:
How To Postpone The Start Of Writing
Talking About the Book
Non-writing does not have to be a downer. As we
thought about the many books we hadn't written (whether individually
or jointly), we realized how enormously creative we have been
in our procrastination! You, our dear reader, can be as successful
as we have been. You will be able to enjoy this feeling of
creativity and well-being and to breathe in the light that
comes with the acceptance of your non-writing nature.
Learning the art of non-writing begins the very first moment
you have a thought about writing a book. If you bypass this
first step, you will miss one of your greatest opportunities
of becoming a non-writer. Simply put, this first step is as
follows: Share each of your ideas as it emerges! This is a
technique that has been used effectively by non-writers since
its first discovery by Tom E. Addison. He found that there
is only a certain amount of energy in the universe for each
book and this energy cannot be created, destroyed or changed.
Thus, if you talk about your book instead of writing it, you
will use up its allotment of energy in talking and you will
never have to write it. Voila! You have become a non-writer
with minimal effort.
We know many people who have needed no more than this first
bit of guidance to become successful non-writers. They are
very popular at literary cocktail parties because they always
have wonderfully creative new book ideas to discuss. Hostesses
love them because they keep the other guests entertained for
hours. Admittedly, this is a relatively superficial sharing
with people that they don't know very well, but the numbers
are advantageous. The most successful of these non-writers
have been known to share book ideas with dozens of people
an evening, thereby dissipating the book energy quickly and
efficiently.
If you are not interested in these more scientific considerations,
i.e., the dissipation of energy, you can focus upon another
aspect of this sharing. Think of it as spreading your ideas
around rather than keeping them selfishly to yourself. This
will allow you to experience a largesse of spirit about sharing
your ideas with family, intimate friends, casual relationships,
people at work and anyone else who will listen. The more that
you talk about your forthcoming book, the better off you are
in your movement towards becoming a non-writer.
In addition to the aura of abundance that will surround you
as you share your many ideas, you will be proving to others
that you are not a private person who holds secrets from them.
People don't like it when we keep secrets from them! Imagine
what would happen if you wrote a book and no one knew that
you were writing it. Suddenly your book is released and there
it is, piled up in tall stacks in all of your local bookstores.
Imagine how your family, your friends, and even your acquaintances
would feel. They would feel hurt and left out. Every one of
them would be angry with you. You don't want to risk the displeasure
of so many people. Certainly this alone should provide you
with a high motivation for sharing.
There is one more reason for sharing your book ideas as soon
as they emerge: You need feedback from as many people as possible
so that you know how people will react to your book once it
is written. This will save you pain and embarrassment later
when everything is in print and you can no longer change your
mind. You will have eager responses to your request for feedback.
People simply love to express their feelings, ideas and reactions.
You can occupy many a fruitful hour listening to what they
have to say about your plans. They will have many suggestions.
You can record these and then consider them as you work on
your outline. It is true that all these suggestions about
your book are very likely to confuse you, but this entire
process will aid you tremendously in your attempts to postpone
the moment when you actually sit down and begin to write.
Do not limit this sharing to your close relationships, even
though you may have many friends with an abundance of ideas.
What you want is serious feedback. Intimate friends may encourage
you and leave it at that. People with whom you have more distant
relationships may respond very differently to your ideas,
so you want to be sure that you spread your new ideas around
as much as possible and check them out with all sorts of people.
If your parents are living, tell them what you are thinking
about. Try it. Don't assume they won't understand. Let your
brothers and sisters know that you are ready to write a book.
They may not give you feedback directly, but if you "tune
into your gut reactions," you will have a sense of what they
are thinking or feeling.
It is entirely possible that you will feel some negativity
from some people about what you are proposing. Siblings, in
particular, may not appreciate your creative efforts. Just
always keep in mind this axiom for non-writing: "Negativity
is good." The worse the feedback makes you feel, the stronger
the possibility that non-writing will win out over writing.
Thus you will be freed of the burden of writing and as a result
you will have time to play or to do whatever you really want
to do.
We have heard it said that it is possible to talk a thing
to death. Well, if you talk about your proposed book often
enough, long enough, and with a sufficient number of people,
you can do just that! If so, we would have to consider this
a very successful conclusion to our first chapter.
If you are fortunate enough to join the ranks of those who
became non-writers after reading just this first chapter,
then it is not necessary to read the remainder of the book.
You might think about passing it on to others who have been
bitten by the writing bug or else setting it aside in case
the writing bug bites you again, which it well may do.
Exercises
For this exercise we would
like you to use a project that you have been daydreaming about.
It might be a book, or it might be some other creative project
that interests you. Talk to ten people about your idea and
then answer the following questions for yourself?
- How did you feel talking to the different people?
- Was the feedback valuable for your project?
- Was there anyone that you felt like punching in
the nose?
- Do you feel like continuing the project now?
- Would it have felt better if you had talked to
twenty people?
This exercise should help you to determine the value of talking
to people as a vehicle for non-writing. Because we are all
different, each of us must discover which non-writing techniques
work most effectively for our particular needs. If you have
not yet postponed your plans for writing indefinitely, read
on. You may find that some ideas in later chapters will work
better for you. |
