Walking the Walk

I’m sure I’ll mention this elsewhere, but writing related things I share are based on my own experiences. They are things I’ve learned, some of them things I wish I’d learned sooner. And I share them because they may be of benefit to you. Perhaps your reading this can be your own ‘learned sooner’ that I wasn’t permitted. But be aware that these are things that worked for me and know that no one can tell you what will work for you. The trick, if ever there was one, is to learn what works for you, then stick with it.

Have a look at these titles:

X Tips Every Writer Should Know

How to Make $X,000 Per Month

How to Reach X,000 Followers

Use This Simple Trick to XYZ

Just how many versions of these have you seen already? You can find a whole host of ‘How to’ related articles/videos by taking a short stroll around the web. And maybe some of them work. I’m not saying they can’t, but you should probably be aware of something aside from the blatant click-bait. The individual that the tip/trick is going to do the most work for is the person that published the video/article. Maybe the contents aren’t flawed, but the point of writing such a thing with such a title isn’t written with your best interests in mind; it’s written for the author.

So, now that I’ve effectively attacked 85% of all people on the Internet, let’s get into today’s suggestion! Shall we?

Given that this is intended to be advice for writing, I hesitate to suggest anything that isn’t directly a writing practice. But I’ve been doing something for a while, and I’m not certain I’ve always done it for this specific reason. This is something you can use that promotes health, well-being, creativity, and likely other positive things. It’s not ground breaking or rocket science. But it is neuroscience. The answer?

Walking.

Anticlimactic, I know, but this is something I use regularly. Science-wise, this is promoting a protein in your brain called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). Feel free to look into it more if you’re interested. This is what I use to develop ideas and generate new ones. It would be all too easy to throw this in a title as ‘The Cure All For Writer’s Block,’ but that’s not what I do here.

Before you try this, be mindful of your personal safety. My goal here is to forget I’m walking by focusing on my thoughts, so you don’t want to do this anywhere close to traffic and you should use caution when doing so on a treadmill. But walk at a semi-brisk pace. You want to be active but you don’t want your effort to pull your awareness back onto the act of walking.

I try to walk most days and I typically do so while doing two things. Yeah, yeah...insert inevitable joke about walking and chewing bubblegum! But don’t sweat it; you can do this. The first thing is selecting the idea or topic that you want to expand, the other is selecting themed music. And don’t get hung up on the music bit. The main goal is for you to just go do this. Take whatever music you want at first, then change it over time.

If you’re anywhere relatively close to traffic or other people, I recommend getting a pair of Shokz headphones.¹ These don’t actually sit inside your ear, rather just outside, working through bone conduction. Depending on the volume you set, you can still hear other things around you if you want to. Frankly, drivers scare the crap out of me, so I’d like to hear them coming when I need to. That’s just me though!

Other than staying safe and listening to music, just focus on your topic/idea. Walking for twenty minutes is plenty of time to experience this and my thoughts usually start expanding and interconnecting within the first five. But the more you can focus on your thoughts the better. That’s why it’s important that you can do this in a place where you don’t have to focus on your personal safety.

If you end up reading Twilight Wolf, you can be reasonably certain that most, if not all, of my fight sequences were expanded or developed in this way. The same goes for the profound tidbits and certain strings of dialogue. I’ll always have my phone with me, so I’ll jot down simple notes as I’m walking. They may be single lines of dialogue, character sentiments, or a concept I want to incorporate. Whatever the subject, be sure to have a way to make simple notes. If you end up entertaining several ideas, you’ll want to make sure these treasures actually make it back to your writing session!

But that’s it! This is what works for me. Feel free to adapt it in whatever way suits you. Maybe you think better without music. Maybe you have a friend that you walk with and the two of you bounce ideas off one another. It doesn’t really matter what you change about this routine, just don’t remove the walking. Do whatever allows you to do this indefinitely. If you do, you may find other areas improving as a happy side effect!

So, just do this one simple trick and all your dreams will come true. And you’ll start making $100,000 a month, have 100 million followers, and even get elected president! lol I hope the sarcasm in this paragraph is plain. Regardless of how you go about your writing, don’t forget to laugh on occasion. And if it’s my writing that makes you laugh...well, hopefully, it was a written joke that I included and not one written to describe my writing. :)

Until next time, happy walking!

End Notes:

1. The Shokz headphones is an affiliate link, one I made after I decided to mention them. They're a business and so is Amazon. The way I see it, if I'm going to potentially generate them a sale, they should compensate me for it. As of this posting, I've personally used them for over a year. So, know I truly do enjoy using them. And I'm confident you will as well!