“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott
If you unplug for a few minutes, I would say that almost everything will work again, ESPECIALLY YOU. When I discovered this quote, I realized that the message of this quotation concisely captures how I have learned to write a book, in addition to being able to approach some more difficult circumstances in life.
This month, I completed my fourth fiction story, and this had me thinking about the reality of the process of writing a full-length story.
When you begin your book, and I mean, when you first get that initial spark of an idea, all the angels are singing. You’re excited and filled with ambition. You picture yourself actually sitting properly at a desk, dressed in regular clothes, joyfully working for hours upon hours on your masterpiece.
You plan to intersperse the writing with exercise, like you learned that author Dan Brown does, and you will not give in to those sweet treats and beverages for “that extra push.”
What actually happens
What actually happens, at least for me, is that working out becomes limited to me playing ball with my Jack Russell for a few minutes in the backyard. My office is wherever I happen to be when I get inspired, or simply declare to my inner child that, ‘It’s time to sit down and do your homework, young lady!’
I end up wearing “comfort clothes,” we’ll call it. I do give in to those sweet treats and beverages, and lots and lots of coffee, promising myself that I will become the most fitness and health-minded individual after the story has been birthed.
The reality is often different than the plan, and I realize that whether you’re working on a novel or working to improve your day-to-day life, it’s always a work in progress, and that’s OK. There are also times when all the self-discipline in the world won’t work, and that’s when listening to this quote actually brings more inspired action and productivity than anything else.
I often get my best ideas and know what scene comes next in my story by unplugging from the pressure of having to hit a certain word count or chapter, and I also feel that “the novel approach” applies as greatly to life situations as well.
In short, “the novel approach” is giving yourself grace, not always sticking to rigid rules and unplugging directly from what you’re facing by doing something that allows your mind to relax and be free, so that you can, in fact, solve your problems and achieve your greatest goals and dreams.
It’s all a journey
I believe we often put way too much pressure on ourselves to find solutions to problems we are facing, whether they are in a storyline, work or in our personal lives and relationships, and I have found that this pressure and insistence on gaining control of a problem turns out to be the exact recipe for blockages to remain and sometimes become worse.
You are given pieces in a story, the same as the granting of wishes you have for the future you envision for yourself.
Yes, there are issues we must face head-on. We can’t always take off into a mindless activity to get inspired, or come up with the perfect solution, but there is a reason for that phrase “sleep on it” as well. It’s also why some of my best ideas and solutions come at the moment I’m beginning to fall asleep at night.
I believe that even if you can take a short walk or create a brief diversion from what you’re directly having trouble with, the solution, healing and inspiration always comes, and usually in the best and most organic way.
The novel approach also reminds me that the whole story doesn’t come all at once, which is also similar to life. You are given pieces in a story, the same as the granting of wishes you have for the future you envision for yourself. It’s all a journey. We receive tiny morsels, and sometimes extraordinary adventures that knock us over with romance, love and passion; and sometimes, you are greeted with complete silence to force your hand into birthing something completely unfounded and new that needs time to percolate.
All of these pieces, all of these moments eventually lead to the stories you tell in literature, art and life.
Unplugging activities
When I unplug from the pressures and accept that not everything is going to come together all at once, that maybe I will simply receive one step to take, and that will be wonderful, I open myself up to the fairy dust, so to speak.
I put away my computer, leaving a pen and notebook nearby, and I take part in activities that have the uncanny ability of welcoming inspiration, revelations and rejuvenation into my work and life.
When I do unplug, I don’t completely distance myself from whatever I’m thinking about. What I do is take a more playful look at the question or situation. I gently toss around in my mind what I’ve written last, or if it’s a circumstance, I toss around what’s bothering me or what I can focus on that’s positive rather than negative.
Unplugging activities I do while floating the problem or block casually around in my head:
- Running/exercise.
- Playing with my Jack Russell.
- Rearranging and organizing bookshelves and decorative tabletops.
- Taking a shower.
- Indulging in self-care-lotions, lighting candles, reading poetry or looking through a holiday-themed magazine.
- Latch hooking—an art activity where you follow a diagram and hook pieces of yarn into a canvas to create a rug or a pillow. I’m currently working on Christmas gnomes.
- Light cleaning/making my bed.
- Listening to music while journaling.
- Watching music videos.
- Board games with my family.
- Playing on Pinterest—pinning styles I love and places in the world I long to visit.
I do aspire to actually building better habits like Dan Brown, but with that, I will always have my novel approach to writing and life that is guaranteed to bring me positive results and happiness in the process. I give myself time to find my way, no matter how long whatever I am working on takes, and I remind myself of what I have already accomplished.
Most of all, no problem or dream to achieve is worth your personal peace and forgetting all that you have to be grateful for. I have also always connected with the quote, “Work smarter, not harder.”
I hope these tips of mine help you in taking a different approach to situations that life inevitably tosses your way, and aid you with whatever goals you are desiring to achieve.
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image 1 mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 2 image by BerckenGroep from Pixabay 3 image by Q K from Pixabay 4 image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
