Tossing Technology

/ thinkingthroughourfingers

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I love technology.  I’m on Twitter and Facebook and figuring out Google Plus – just downloaded some really cool apps for my tablet and smartphone that I’m super excited about.

But just over a week ago, as I was working through my WIP, I hit a spot where two characters were flat.  They acted strange, but there weren’t any real reasons why. They were just…there.

So I’d open my document, all motivated to fix them and stare at the cursor.  I tried rewriting a scene to weave some of the character depth in and…#fail.  I opened a new document to try and figure out the motivations and logic behind their actions and the cursor blinked.

Blink.

Blink.

Nothing.

I decided it was time to change my methods, broke out one of my favorite pens and papers and started jotting down the back story for these characters to better understand them.  And, as happens often for me, the ideas started flowing so fast that I almost couldn’t keep up.

There are lots of studies about it on the net, articles featured in the major news sources even within the last three months, that explain why writing by hand helps build the brain.  I think, though, there are many ways in which it works in reverse – the brain is better at working through issues when the hand is involved.  The process of physically forming the letters, connecting the ideas often triggers parts of the brain that were slumping along.

Now if I can just figure out why on earth it took me so stinkin’ long to remember this in the first place.  Hopefully by writing this post – I’ll remember for the next time I’m just stuck.

What do you do to get over the walls blocking your writing from progressing?  Have you experienced this before?

10 thoughts on “Tossing Technology”

  2. What a great idea. Technology definitely makes life easier…except when it doesn't. What are the cool apps that you downloaded? I need specifics if they really are great. 🙂

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  3. I love technology too but I do still enjoy writing with pen and paper sometimes. It's just harder to fix things and it ends up with a lot of scribbles and arrows everywhere.

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  4. Sometimes switching from the computer to pen and paper helps me too. Usually if I get really stuck, I just force myself through that part and then it gets flowing again. Anything can be fixed through editing.

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  8. I completely understand what you mean. I have all sorts of symbols next to notes to take me to other places. I figure if it looks messy but ends up brilliant, it's worth it 🙂

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