Title: The Writer's Process: Getting Your Brain in Gear
Author: Anne H Janzer
Publisher: Cuesta Park Consulting
Pages: 200
My GoodReads Rating: 
It was a 10th anniversary
edition with many changes, including chapters on AI, and chapters re-written on
the basis of newer research on writing, and the author’s own experiences in the
field. The edition is quite different from the first one, given that the
author’s own writing has evolved. Her goal, she says, is to help us find the
writing process that is suited to us, the process that makes our sentences
sing.
I’ve only recently begun to hone in
on my own writing process. Here, the author talks about her own writing
process, a mix of reading about the subject, and taking notes, outlining,
writing in sprints of 90 minutes or less. The book isn’t specific to fiction.
The writer writes from her experience as a marketing writer in the technology
industry, who has written blog posts, website copy, case studies etc.
The book is divided into three parts.
Parti I is The Writing Brain, where we learn to motivate the Muse and
strengthen the Scribe. Part II is called A Recipe for the Writing
Process. Part III is
called The Writing Process in Real Life.
WHAT I LIKED:
The author explains how we need both
the Muse, the creative process, and the Scribe, the analytical one. Successful
writers work with both the Muse and the Scribe in parallel. So our inspiration
and creativity are boosted by discipline and focus. We cannot have one of these
overpowering the other.
She speaks about the merits of Open
Attention, as opposed to Focused Attention. In Open Attention, the brain is
allowed free rein to play with random elements and make connections between
things that the conscious mind cannot. Her ideas for enabling the Muse to
assert itself and allowing the Scribe to weigh in are sound.
Her suggestions about how to induce a
state of “flow”, in which the Muse and the Scribe work together, are welcome.
The author substantiates her theories
through true examples and the results of research studies into processes. She
says that
A quote I liked:
What can we offer as writers if not
our own slant on the world, unique to our experiences, stories and lenses on
life?
The author likens the process of writing to baking bread, where there is a basic process that must be followed, but there can be untold variations that yield varieties of baked goods. Through each pf the stages, the Muse and the Scribe work in phases. The author’s analogy to describe this process is like soccer teammates, passing a ball back and forth as they cross the field. The better the passing game, the more successful the team.
A lot of it seemed more for
non-fiction writing, but I tried to see where I could use it in fiction.
In the chapter on AI in the Writing
Process, the author addresses the question of where, how and when one might use
AI. I don’t use AI in my writing or even in ideation, but I read the chapter to
see what her views on it were. She recommends trying to understand the
technology to figure out what the model is trying to do and how it is achieving
it and also what context it is applying to your work. She advises not giving up
responsibility, particularly on high-stakes writing projects.
In Part III, the author shows us how
to deal with common problems like Procrastination, Perfectionism, Writer’s
Block and Imposter Syndrome.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME:
The chapter on AI.
ALL SAID AND DONE:
A useful read. The section I liked
the best was the one about inviting the Muse in and getting the Muse and Scribe
to work together.
(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)
