Muse In A Candle
September 6th, 2007 by anned
Whatever your feelings are about RWA, their annual conference has a wealth of infomation for writers — mostly in the form of workshops. I haven’t made it to one of the conferences in person, but am slowly working my way through the CDs (RWA records the conference workshops) from past years. I’ve had a chance to listen to quite a few workshops this summer — as I’ve spent a great deal of time travelling by train! — and I was particularly impressed with a workshop from 2006 by Susan Mallery called “Screw the Muse, I’m On A Deadline!”
I have listened to Ms. Mallery speak in person, and have found her personality very down-to-earth and her advice motivational. She’s really no-nonsense about the fact that writing is a J-O-B. She maps out her year ahead of time, giving herself a daily page quota based on the number of books she needs to write over the course of the 12 months in order to make the amount of money she wants — her salary. She schedules in time for vacations and holidays, but does not allow herself to deviate from her plan. As they say, the proof is in the pudding — she manages to write something like 5 books a year (those are 400 ms page books) — and has had over 100 books in print.
I plan to try the page quota calendar idea at some point, and in listening to her “Screw the Muse” workshop, I found another intriguing idea: In the workshop, Ms. Mallory says that scent is the sense with the longest/strongest memory. In other words, smelling something can bring you back to an experience from years ago, sometimes even invoking the feelings and emotions of the experience, more reliably than sight, touch, taste or sound.
In her talk, Ms. Mallery suggests using this information to help strengthen your writing routine. By lighting a scented candle when the writing is really going well, you can train your brain to associate writing with that scent. The scent will eventually act like a trigger, so that your brain is writing ready when you are.
I haven’t thoroughly tested this out yet, but I’m giving it a shot. I couldn’t devote too much time to it when the kids were home (“Oooooh, Mommy has a candle!” “Can I blow it out when you’re done?” “Can I blow it out now?” etc.) but I’m good to go now. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Anyone else have an idea to help keep the writing going?
I think if writing is your job that is great advice. For me writing is more like a hobby with benefits. I need to enjoy it at least half the time
I am looking forward to attending the RWA conference next year.
Thank you for sharing the info about Mallery’s writing schedule. I recently created a writing schedule for myself, but didn’t do so well at sticking to it this week. I needed a swift reminder.
I’m in the “hobby with benefits” camp, too, Emily — I don’t want the writing to feel like a drag. But something about the daily page quota idea really appeals to me.
Maybe it’s the idea that I will have given myself permission to spend the time to write X pages every day — otherwise, the writing happens when I can fit it in.
J
I’m thinking seriously about going to the RWA conference next year, too. It’s relatively close, and I’m always looking for an excuse to go to San Francisco!
Mallery is very pragmatic and has a strong sense of self-discipline. I don’t know if that’s something she has learned over time, or if she has always been that way. In any case, I’m hoping that some of her ideas will work with my — slightly less pragmatic — personality.
I write with a lighted vanilla-scented candle in the room. I had no idea I was doing anything more than creating a peaceful atmosphere. It makes sense that my mind would subconsciously relate the scent to writing. Interesting!
–Adele Dubois
Well, it’s obviously working for you, Adele! Congrats on the sale to EC!