Ask the Author: Gina Greenlee
Answered Questions (6)
Gina Greenlee
Inspiration is everywhere. The challenge for me has been to manage the torrent of ideas and still function in other areas of life. I practiced how to relate to writing as a way of being, not as a compartmentalized act. After five years of practice I taught myself how to co-exist with that challenge, to be freakishly productive without going crazy. The result is a system I developed called Formula 5.
https://www.amazon.com/Formula-Brain-...
https://www.amazon.com/Formula-Brain-...
Gina Greenlee
From a psychotherapy session five years ago. I shared frustration with doing all the work in my relationships. My therapist provided some life changing insight, a burning bush moment from which I began exploring my overfunctioning history.
Gina Greenlee
My 17th book, The Overfunctioner’s Revolution, scheduled Kindle release, September 30, 2019.
Gina Greenlee
I’m with television producer and film writer Shonda Rhimes who says she doesn’t believe in the term, “aspiring writer.” If you write, you’re a writer. And the way to improve your craft over time is to practice. That’s how you learn to relate to and express your ideas with consistency. That’s how you improve your skills. If you wish to publicly share your writing (not a requirement but a choice), practice allow you to do so with confidence.
We don’t expect Barbra Streisand, Ariana Grande or Celine Dion to enter the recording studio, record an album in one take, and then call it a wrap. They practice singing those songs over and over again. Polishing. Shaping. Adding Texture. Deleting what’s not working. Kobe Bryant practices. So does Tiger Woods and Yo Yo Ma.
Humans think just because we use language daily – write letters, emails, business proposals or school reports – that a book, essay, dissertation or business proposal should, in first draft, flow one word after the other in flawless prose.
That’s absurd.
You have to practice writing like you would any other skill you wish to master. You develop your chops by high volume output. You think Serena Williams or Michael Jordan throw a dozen balls around for 40 minutes a few times a week to become world class athletes? More like hundreds of thousands of balls; likely millions. The more practice, the more experience to draw from. Practice creates an ever increasing repertoire about what does and does not work
Also, it trains you not to be so precious about every word, every writing session. Preciousness takes you out of the writing moment – from relating to the work to thinking about the work. You risk rumination and self-judgment, all of which slow you down. Practice is time spent creating – over and over and over again. World renowned guitarist Eric Clapton: “If you are any good at all, you know you can be better.”
Better comes with practice.
• Start with Julia Cameron’s morning pages. This is akin to a warming up with scales.
• Write a poem a day. An especially useful challenge if you’ve not written poetry before.
• Keep notebooks planted in every corner of your world; observe and cultivate those daily conditions that attract the Muse.
• Blog. Write one post a week. At the end of 52 weeks, will you have launched a body of work and learned a lot about how you tick as a writer.
We don’t expect Barbra Streisand, Ariana Grande or Celine Dion to enter the recording studio, record an album in one take, and then call it a wrap. They practice singing those songs over and over again. Polishing. Shaping. Adding Texture. Deleting what’s not working. Kobe Bryant practices. So does Tiger Woods and Yo Yo Ma.
Humans think just because we use language daily – write letters, emails, business proposals or school reports – that a book, essay, dissertation or business proposal should, in first draft, flow one word after the other in flawless prose.
That’s absurd.
You have to practice writing like you would any other skill you wish to master. You develop your chops by high volume output. You think Serena Williams or Michael Jordan throw a dozen balls around for 40 minutes a few times a week to become world class athletes? More like hundreds of thousands of balls; likely millions. The more practice, the more experience to draw from. Practice creates an ever increasing repertoire about what does and does not work
Also, it trains you not to be so precious about every word, every writing session. Preciousness takes you out of the writing moment – from relating to the work to thinking about the work. You risk rumination and self-judgment, all of which slow you down. Practice is time spent creating – over and over and over again. World renowned guitarist Eric Clapton: “If you are any good at all, you know you can be better.”
Better comes with practice.
• Start with Julia Cameron’s morning pages. This is akin to a warming up with scales.
• Write a poem a day. An especially useful challenge if you’ve not written poetry before.
• Keep notebooks planted in every corner of your world; observe and cultivate those daily conditions that attract the Muse.
• Blog. Write one post a week. At the end of 52 weeks, will you have launched a body of work and learned a lot about how you tick as a writer.
Gina Greenlee
Playing with ideas and possibilities. Swimming in my imagination. That no-boundaries feeling that comes from asking “What if?” I’ve achieved this in my writing practice by cultivating a relationship with the Muse:https://www.ginagreenlee.com/post/201...
Gina Greenlee
I go to the work, vs. ruminating about the work.
Don’t Think, Ask
The primary reason why people who want to write struggle or don’t do it at all is because they think too much. Thinking leads to anxiety. Though every person has their own brand of it, what creates anxiety in general is overwhelming ourselves with unproductive thoughts: we focus on the entire journey of writing a novel, script, memoir or dissertation rather than on one moment at a time; we ruminate on perceived limitations; we dread pitfalls ahead.
Basically, we scare the crap out of ourselves.
Instead, Ask the Work.
What do you mean, “Ask the Work”?
Simply go to the novel, script, poem, stage play. Toddlers do not stand outside a sandbox contemplating it and the number of buckets needed to build the castle of a lifetime. They plop in the sand and go to it. Your writing project is like the toddler’s sandbox.
Don’t think about your writing in an attempt to formulate a plan for next steps. Go to it. If the project is already underway, start reading. Three sentences in will tell you what needs to happen next – what to delete, revise, move.
That’s Asking the Work.
No Blank Pages…Ever!
Also, I never start with a blank page. I always have writing baking in folder or notebook – a spark, question, random thought – anything but white space. The next time I open a notebook or file for a project underway, writing is there to greet me. I dive right in and ask, “What’s next?”
Staring at a blank page is counterproductive; nothing to ground you. So I developed strategies for never looking at one.
Breakin’ It Down, Keepin’ It Real
Here’s how to start with a full, fluffy page of writing instead of a blank page:
• When you get an idea – even if only a title, image, dream snippet, a notion inspired by a line of a song or a smell that provokes a memory – grab it with your pen and notebook or mobile device. Get it down.
• Also, write down the catalyst for the idea. I’ve learned through practice that a writing idea with no connection to what sparked it presents as hieroglyphics 30 minutes later, let alone days or weeks afterward.
• Next, let a sentence or two organically flow from that idea. If you get on a roll and write for a paragraph or two or three – fabulous. Words beget more words – half-baked, quarter-baked, put something down, anything; keep the pen moving across the page, fingers cruising the keyboard or stylus skimming the screen. Transcribe what you see in your mind and what you feel in your heart.
• Close the file.
• The next time you revisit that idea, open your file and voila – you are starting with words on a page, not staring down a void.
Bullet-Train Productivity
Looking at a blank page or screen signals to the brain, “nothing is happening here.” That starts the anxiety snowball rolling. A few seconds of “nothing’s happening here” turns into minutes, then hours and then…nothing. The snowball you want is bullet-train productivity not towering anxiety. Filling the page with accumulated ideas is the way to do it. The next time you open that document you send this signal to the brain: “Sweet! I’ve already started!” With a Pavlovian cue to start writing, you’ve got momentum on your side.
Don’t Think, Ask
The primary reason why people who want to write struggle or don’t do it at all is because they think too much. Thinking leads to anxiety. Though every person has their own brand of it, what creates anxiety in general is overwhelming ourselves with unproductive thoughts: we focus on the entire journey of writing a novel, script, memoir or dissertation rather than on one moment at a time; we ruminate on perceived limitations; we dread pitfalls ahead.
Basically, we scare the crap out of ourselves.
Instead, Ask the Work.
What do you mean, “Ask the Work”?
Simply go to the novel, script, poem, stage play. Toddlers do not stand outside a sandbox contemplating it and the number of buckets needed to build the castle of a lifetime. They plop in the sand and go to it. Your writing project is like the toddler’s sandbox.
Don’t think about your writing in an attempt to formulate a plan for next steps. Go to it. If the project is already underway, start reading. Three sentences in will tell you what needs to happen next – what to delete, revise, move.
That’s Asking the Work.
No Blank Pages…Ever!
Also, I never start with a blank page. I always have writing baking in folder or notebook – a spark, question, random thought – anything but white space. The next time I open a notebook or file for a project underway, writing is there to greet me. I dive right in and ask, “What’s next?”
Staring at a blank page is counterproductive; nothing to ground you. So I developed strategies for never looking at one.
Breakin’ It Down, Keepin’ It Real
Here’s how to start with a full, fluffy page of writing instead of a blank page:
• When you get an idea – even if only a title, image, dream snippet, a notion inspired by a line of a song or a smell that provokes a memory – grab it with your pen and notebook or mobile device. Get it down.
• Also, write down the catalyst for the idea. I’ve learned through practice that a writing idea with no connection to what sparked it presents as hieroglyphics 30 minutes later, let alone days or weeks afterward.
• Next, let a sentence or two organically flow from that idea. If you get on a roll and write for a paragraph or two or three – fabulous. Words beget more words – half-baked, quarter-baked, put something down, anything; keep the pen moving across the page, fingers cruising the keyboard or stylus skimming the screen. Transcribe what you see in your mind and what you feel in your heart.
• Close the file.
• The next time you revisit that idea, open your file and voila – you are starting with words on a page, not staring down a void.
Bullet-Train Productivity
Looking at a blank page or screen signals to the brain, “nothing is happening here.” That starts the anxiety snowball rolling. A few seconds of “nothing’s happening here” turns into minutes, then hours and then…nothing. The snowball you want is bullet-train productivity not towering anxiety. Filling the page with accumulated ideas is the way to do it. The next time you open that document you send this signal to the brain: “Sweet! I’ve already started!” With a Pavlovian cue to start writing, you’ve got momentum on your side.
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