The Voices in My Head
The secret to writing a book? I think it’s this: Take good notes and write often enough that it starts to accumulate. ~ Colleen, from The Jim and Dan Stories
As a writer, the most important discipline I’ve learned is to take notes when the dictation of writing begins. I drop everything, resort to writing on my hand if I can’t find a pen, pull over when driving if it starts coming too fast because trying to recreate it later is a waste of time. It’s never as good as the way it first comes through, in an original voice that I clearly hear as if it was being dictated.
I don’t know where it comes from or what makes it start. Sometimes I start receiving dictation while I’m working on something else. It’s like watching a TV show and the newscaster breaks in with a message. I grab a pen and write it down. I don’t have to know what it means. It’s not the time to fuss about where it will be used or to complain about the lack of wages it will earn. I know who my boss is. I do my grunt work. Write it all down on anything I can find. Some writing starts in a notebook and ends on the side of a popcorn box scribbled in a dark theater.
Maybe if I do my job long enough, eventually I’ll be promoted, have more say in the process of writing, institute a more predictable schedule. But for now I don’t ask too many questions. I just transcribe the words I hear in my head like I don’t have a choice. That’s my commitment to writing. It’s what being a writer means to me.
Note: More Sunday Scribblers writing about writing HERE.
September 9th, 2007 9:43 am
Sometimes I wish it was that easy for me. I don’t hear the voices often enough, although I’ll admit it has happened a few times. That’s when the writing is the best it can be.
Michele sent me today, but I am here as often as I can be anyway.
September 9th, 2007 10:01 am
I think the more you drop everything when you do hear them, the more they begin visiting.
September 9th, 2007 10:23 am
Hah! So I am not crazy… this is how the process happens for many people… that’s good to know! I have pulled over to write before but I guess I should also stop myself while doing dishes, too, to receive the dictation.
September 9th, 2007 10:59 am
loved this today ..
September 9th, 2007 11:01 am
I think that is what we call INSPIRATION!
And if you don’t use it you lose it.
September 9th, 2007 11:19 am
This morning I was cleaning out the mess that has been created in the drawers of my kitchen desk. In moving EVERYTHING seems to have been dumped there. Anyway, I came across a small collection of index cards where I had written notes on ideas and feelings for writing exercises a long time ago. Some came back as clear memories, others I could not remember at all the experience from my past that I had jotted down and the other third were really pathetic and dumb and almost embarrassing. I guess if I can get it about 1/3 of the time I will keep on trying.
September 9th, 2007 11:20 am
Your muse whispers in your ear frequently – because you listen. One day she may sing you an opera…
September 9th, 2007 11:24 am
That’s why I love journals and notebooks. I can read them back months and years later and pick up on threads that I would have forgotten if they weren’t written down.
Muse sining opera …. gives me a BIG SMILE.
September 9th, 2007 11:51 am
That inner voice is very much there prompting us to write. We need to discern it fully.
September 9th, 2007 12:13 pm
i’m just having fun with the fans
September 9th, 2007 2:51 pm
I have an arbitrary muse, who likes to visit in the middle of the night. (Wonderful post, Colleen)
September 9th, 2007 3:14 pm
Martin comes in with notes on his hands all the time. I think that is funny but I guess if ideas hit and you have no paper….
September 9th, 2007 3:44 pm
I finally started to carry a little pad in my car since my voices come most while driving: I’m alone and so apt to be listening more than talking.
September 9th, 2007 5:39 pm
Yep, got to keep records. Everyone experiences life but few stop to notice it or record it or polish it until it makes sense again thru words or images. The secret to writing is to keep writing.
September 9th, 2007 6:47 pm
I have this same phenomenon (as you and Sentient Marrow do). And sometimes I write on my hand too, or email myself notes, or send myself a text message.
When I used to talk to God, it was quite a similar voice that I heard so maybe it was just me talking to myself back then.
September 9th, 2007 8:14 pm
Colleen, please tell Chrissie that I cannot comment on her post..
September 9th, 2007 8:33 pm
In response to your comment on my blog:
Who was it? Do you mean the one from Willis that was in the truck with other girls? Or was it this weekend? I haven’t seen any new obits for Floyd this weekend….
September 9th, 2007 8:58 pm
glad I found your blog Colleen. What great advice! So often I will have a series of great thoughts I would like to write about. Hours later when I reach for my pen, my mind is blank. I will think of your advice next time I’m driving or out and about and remember to grab my pen and pad. 🙂
September 9th, 2007 9:09 pm
i think we are very much on the same wavelength here… i love the terminology… receiving dictation…. excellent
September 9th, 2007 9:29 pm
I love you
September 9th, 2007 10:16 pm
i just bumped into your niece’s blog at Michele’s
September 9th, 2007 10:20 pm
http://looseleafnotes.com/notes/2007/09/the_voices_in
Colleen, this “broken” URL is all that shows up at Sunday Scribblings, so you may want to tell them to “FIX” it. Excellent post, by the way, as usual. I never go anywhere without paper and pencil and have even discovered the clip on my cell phone holder will also hold a slip of paper … very good for scribbles and notes!
September 10th, 2007 1:07 am
I think it is what it means to be ‘an artist’ of any kind….I know I spoke about comparing this thing that comes through me to ‘automatic writing’…I find painting and composing has a similar feel to it…most of the time I have no idea where it comes from….I LOVE that! Your description of where to write things down including the Popcorn Box was wonderful!
September 10th, 2007 8:08 am
Same things happens to me with my rug hooking. As an example; I’ve been having trouble with a pomegranate. I’ve taken the wools strips in and out and the color just wasn’t working with the rest of the rug. I studied the actual fruit for shading, I looked at pictures, and still I wasn’t able to get it right.
And then…
Yesterday, while doing something totally unrelated, in a paint store too-boot, I happpened to walk by some wallpaper with pomegranates on the print. It was EXACTLY the way I saw it in my mind. Now I can recreate it with the sample piece the store owner gave me. It’s sorta like “receiving dictation” eh? At any rate, I do believe we get help from world beyond when we least expect it.
September 10th, 2007 10:13 am
That happens to me a lot and I’ve used grocery register tapes, napkins at restaurants, the back of kid’s notes from parents at school… I agree with Kathy, we do get some help from beyond, maybe guardian kindred spirits who dictate through us, who may just be the medium.
September 12th, 2007 3:39 pm
I forgot to tell you that my mom just started your book!