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October 5, 2006

How to Age Ideas Like a Fine Cognac OR Making Compelling Writing the Center of Your Brand

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 10:29 am

I Love My Pocket Journal

Finding Ideas Outside of the Box logo 2

Yesterday in the comments to Inside Out Thinking: Catching Ideas Coming In and Going Out, Hans at Blogosquare asked a question that was one I had when I first started writing. That made me think that others might have it as well. You see, Han’s problem is that he has too many ideas and his exuberance makes him anxious to use them all as soon as he gets them.

. . . I just don’t have to sit back and wait for thoughts, actually they are filling me. When I get a thought, . . . I just can’t wait for that thought to leave me. So I write it down quickly, quickly and post it and there when I see it I feel much relieved.
How in fact to you deal with thoughts when they come in? Should I set myself to some relaxation or things like this? All day long everything I see, read, and hear just give me thoughts and ideas. . . . Right now after reading the post above, I just got that thought and couldn’t wait to put it down, to get it off my mind. Am I not normal? [edited with Hans permission]

Hans, my friend, I value you and your passion for writing. Turn the page and I’ll answer your question with the seriousness it deserves.

.

Fine Wine and Compelling Writing

Some things are meant to be done with speed. Taking a curve in a nice sports car is the only way to fully experience it. Other things become better, deeper, and more meaningful, if we know how to give them time breathe. Like great cognac, compelling writing doesn’t just happen by putting the ingredients together. It takes time and watchful care for them to mature into something lasting and wonderful.

I used to have the same problem as Hans — too many ideas, chasing me, wanting attention, vying to be the first to get themselves into words so that I could move on. To me writing was about expressing fast and neatly — what some call a knee jerk reaction. The problem with writing too fast and too soon is that the writing is almost all heart and no head.

Now I’ve learned that great cognac takes longer and tastes better, and the thoughts that take longer to think often say more. Head and heart together bring a stronger message, tell a deeper story, resonate with readers.

Getting Control Over Those Anxious Ideas

Learning that thinking longer was a good start, but it didn’t help much. The ideas were still bouncing around in my head. I had to get a system that would make me feel in control, comfortable knowing I could keep the joy and exuberance of the moment when the idea struck without using up the idea by writing too fast. Here’s what I learned and what I recommend

    1. Get a small notebook/journal. I have one that fits in the back pocket of my jeans. I can have it with me wherever I go. In your case, if they are on sale, buy 2 or 3 or 10. :)

    2. When you get those ideas, write them down as fast as you get them. Keep the BIG thoughts, the important ideas, the ones that touch your soul, tug your heart, spark your imagination, tickle your feelings, amaze you, stun you, teach you, reach you in any way.

    3. Write those BIG ideas as sentences or “sound bites” or draw little pictures to capture the time. Do whatever you must to make an imprint — record a quote a friend said in conversation. Choose anything to be your doorway that will bring you back.

    4. Look at your list when you want, but do not write for 24 hours. Give yourself time to breathe too. You’ll be surprised at the new perspectives and points of view the distance will bring you. You might even think of it as new wisdom in a way.

    5. Before you write, reflect. Shut out the world. Take yourself back to where you were when you took that BIG thought down. Experience it again. This time try to see it in slow motion, as if you are watching a movie, recall as much as you can with each of your senses — sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste.

    PLUS ONE: As you do the fifth one, prewrite what you recall in words, phrases, and sentences. Now you have a rich basis from which to write. You don’t have to use all that you write, nor do you have to stay within what you write. You’ve fully opened your brain to the experience. You’re ready to share your thoughts in words.

Think about what you would have written before and what you would write now. The difference is taking the time to let your idea mature. Your subconscious has made connections to what you already know about. Your conscious has gotten distance to see the idea in a new way.

That’s added value by bridging the gap between you and your reader. You won’t leaveout things that they don’t know, because you’ve stood back to look and thought the experience through.

You have married your heart and your head in your writing. Readers might not know that, but they feel it when they read.

Head and heart are a compelling combination. It’s worth every minute to be able to say, “I deliver that to my readers. That is my brand.”

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles
Inside Out Thinking: Catching Ideas Coming In and Going Out
Don’t Hunt IDEAS — Be an Idea Magnet
Arlo Guthrie, a Pickle, and 5 Signs You’re Forcing a Bad Idea to Work
Finding Fodder for Future Ideas

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13 Comments to “How to Age Ideas Like a Fine Cognac OR Making Compelling Writing the Center of Your Brand”

  1. October 5th, 2006 at 11:03 am
    Steve said

    This is good… very good advice. When I first started writing, especially blogging, when I got an idea I became “overly” excited and wrote too quickly. I couldn’t wait to click publish.

    Sometimes it worked out but other times it put a damper on my writing. I sacrificed quality for speed. When you are a news blogger getting that story out quickly is important. But just bloggin ideas and timeless content I wrote too quickly.

    It took some time but I learned to slow down and write everything I had to say. One of my remedies was writing a day in advance. Just knowing my writing would not be published until the next day helped tremendously… :)

  2. October 5th, 2006 at 11:07 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Steve!
    Some folks actually suggest that you write your work and put it in a drawer for a day or two. Then bring out to read. It is funny how your perspective changes when you read your words after the emotional overlay has worn off.

    That was great technique you had of writing the day before. For my writing blog, I write in the morning and I edit at night. Same kind of thing, really.

  3. October 5th, 2006 at 11:55 am
    Hendry Lee said

    For those who work before the computer most of the time, I recommend The Journal.

    I even implement GTD lists — but not calendaring system — using it, besides my journal.

    Liz, could you please share how you manage your ideas? I mean, even with a digital journal, I find problems digging out ideas I know is there. Sometimes I can’t seem to retrieve them back using the search function, perhaps due to incorrect keywords.

    Right now, I dump every ideas into GTD’s Inbox, to be processed at the end of the day or weekend. But that gives me too huge a list to maintain and prioritize.

    -Hendry
    Still amazed at how Liz almost always comes up with blog entries that specifically touch my personal productivity issues. ;)

  4. October 5th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hendry,
    To answer the last bit first . . . when will you believe that I live inside your computer?

    I don’t want to scare you when I answer your question Hendry, but . . . I keep my ideas . . . on . . . paper. I use an action planner book. That separates the page with a larger outside margin (I draw it in a regular notebook).

    In the outside margin I write when things are due and “to dos” in the middle I list ideas. I neatly cross through the ones I use.

    I have more than one of these notebooks — the pocket size one I carry with me, one that stays on my desk, and one that goes to meetings — it’s leather bound and has some visuals that I use with clients drawn in the back. It also has some journaling space.

  5. October 5th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
    Tony D. Clark said

    Great advice as usual, Liz. I’ve always made sure to let my writing marinate, because the first draft is always sh**ty (per Anne Lamott). I’ve found that it helps to liberate me from writer’s block. I get it all down (sometimes just an idea on a notecard to start with), then set it aside for at least an hour. Then edit, rewrite, edit, rewrite.

    I’ve found that a lot of blogs tend to “rush to publish” where others have a more polished feel. Even in the rapid post world of “user created content” giving a piece time to rest helps to make it better (IMHO).

  6. October 5th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Tony,
    I agree. I know that when I absolutely must finish and run out the door. It’s never with a good result. I always should just not publish that day. Everyone here is so forgiving. They see the ideas and let the rest go without speaking to me about it, but I know it stinks. :)

  7. October 5th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
    Scorpia said

    Absolutely. Paper is the thing. You can look at it anytime, and you don’t need a computer to do it.

    Whenever a thought comes to mind, I scribble it down on a sheet of paper (preferably the same one with all the others; otherwise, I hate to think how much paper I’d have and I have too much anyway).

    Some are quickies: something I saw online that can be done in very little time because it’s short.

    But for a more important piece, I have to take my time. I learned long ago that jumping in and getting something off quickly is almost always a mistake. Most things that seem urgent aren’t really, and a day or two lapse will do more good than harm.

  8. October 5th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Great point that last one, Scorpia.
    I have a saying, “The more you think that you should run, the slower you should walk.”

    Urgency only makes you drop things. And other people’s urgency is the worst.

  9. October 5th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
    Marti said

    I actually have a folder in “My Documents” called “Ideas”!

    Some are good, some are dumb (and rhyme lol). Unless it is a truly time sensitive thing (stuff to do for a holiday that is a week away) I just put them in there and let them simmer. I check back every week or so, or when I add a new one. Ya get to be my age, its too easy to forget…

  10. October 5th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Marti.
    It seems when I put an idea in a file like that, I usually end up not liking it for one reason or another. I have a few in such a file, but I go there very infrequently and when I do I usually use it to put things in that I’ve been working on that I don’t know where to put them. :)

  11. October 5th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
    Marti said

    Not all of mine are winners (most aren’t even also-rans lol) but at least it helps me remember. We learn, even from our mistakes. I should be brilliant by now LOL

  12. October 5th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah, if that’s how brilliance comes. Man, I’m shining at this very moment!

  13. November 9th, 2006 at 11:26 am
    Successful Blog - Stop Writer’s Block: 10 Minutes to Ideas to Write About said

    […] Related articles How to Age Ideas Like a Fine Cognac OR Making Compelling Writing the Center of Your Brand Rehearsing My Writing . . . No, It’s Not Just a Liz Thing The 9 Rights of Every Writer — Peer Pressure Is for Jr. High School Why Dave Barry and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block […]

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