Improve Your Memory & Write More
October 19, 2021
Note From Rochelle
Dear Writers,
This week, I am celebrating the National Day On Writing by participating in my second blog tour in support of the book! If you’d like to follow along, check out some of the stops:
+I’m on Helen Ishmurzin’s blog talking about how I used persistence to write, pitch, and promote Mightier Than the Sword.
+I’m on Kathy Haueisen’s How Wise Then Blog writing about how to be persistent (Yes! There are steps you can take!) access persistence.
+An excerpt of the book is on Literary Leading Ladies.
And be sure to stop by The Mighty Writers Blog tomorrow to learn how you can use Mightier Than the Sword in the classroom AND enter to win a classroom visit: https://rochellemelander.com/blog/
Today’s tip talks about how improving your working memory is essential for writing. It’s the fourth article in our series on writing productivity based on the book Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life: Train Your Brain to Get More Done in Less Time by Paul Hammerness, M.D., Margaret Moore, and John Hane. The first three articles are available on the blog. Find the links at the end of today’s article.
Happy writing,
Rochelle, the Write Now! Coach
Improve Your Memory & Write More
by Rochelle Melander
Every person you meet—and everything you do in life—is an opportunity to learn something. That’s important to all of us, but most of all to a writer because a writer can use anything.
—Tom Clancy
So we’ve tamed the frenzy, focused on writing, and tugged our attention away from myriad distractions and back to our work. Whew! Isn’t that enough? Nope. According to the authors of Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life: Train Your Brain to Get More Done in Less Time, we need to learn how to “mold information.”
What it means to “mold information”: We rely on our working memory to remember and retrieve information so we can use it in our daily life. This might be using your muscle memory to remember how to balance a wobbly bike or recalling what happened the last time you ate that big burger with fried onions so that you don’t spend another weekend clutching your stomach in pain.
What it looks like for writers: When we write, we are able to access our brain’s large amount of stored ideas, information, anecdotes, emotions, and more so that we can incorporate them into our work. We also use our working memory to recall the strengths and habits that help us work.
When we can’t access this information, we might say we have “writer’s block.” But we may be having difficulty accessing our working memory. That can happen when we are tired, hungry, or frazzled. But do not fear! We can nurture and protect our working memory so that when we need to access it for writing, we can!
How to do it: It seems almost magical when it happens: we write and the ideas flow easily. We suddenly remember snippets of information from all sorts of various sources that make our work richer and more fun to write (and read). We’ve entered the zone, the state that Mihály Csíkszentmihályi calls “flow.”
While this may seem magical, it isn’t. And we can increase our ability to retrieve and use information while we are writing. Here’s how:
Create a healthy foundation. Our life habits can support or derail our ability to learn, recall, and use information. The following basic practices will help us:
*sleep
*exercise
*eat well
*meditate
*learn new information
*exercise your memory
Clear out environment. In Edward Hallowell’s article, “Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform” (Harvard Business Review, 2005) he talks about how having our circuits overloaded with information and tasks can literally cause us to lose our ability to pay attention. He recommends “keeping a section of your work space or desk clear at all times. (You do not need to have a neat office, just a neat section of your office.) Similarly, you might try keeping a portion of your day free of appointments, e-mail, and other distractions so that you have time to think and plan.”
Organize resources. Most writers have a few places they store information:
*physical resources, like books, magazines, and files.
*electronic resources, like eBooks, PDF reports, and documents.
*online resources, like blogs we follow, collections of resources (as on Evernote or Pinterest)
Often, we need access information from these sources when we write. If you’re like me, you’re halfway through writing that article when you think, “I could add an anecdote about squirrels. Where did I read that story about how squirrels forget where they bury their nuts?” Then you scour your brain, shelves, computer history, and bookmarks until you find the dang article. You can make this search a bit easier by creating systems to organize your physical, electronic, and online resources.
Herd ideas. Have you ever watched rancher herd a flock of cattle—usually with the help of a herd dog. It’s a perfect metaphor for what happens as we collect our ideas to write. We take the topic or scene we’re writing about, and jot down all of our ideas. I like to use a mind map, because I can collect the random ideas that don’t really fit but seem to want to be invited to the party. As I work on herding my ideas, I’ll remember stuff I learned or heard an eon ago! You might have another way you gather up ideas. One colleague creates a Pinterest board for each project, while another collects all of her documents in a new document folder on her PC.
Focus on work, stay open to inspiration. Inspiration usually strikes while you’re working. The information you most need to complete the piece of the project you’re working on right now probably does live in your brain—and it will emerge when you are writing with focused energy and open to receiving it. (I know—it sounds totally woo-woo—but it works every time!)
Your turn: What have you done to support and access your working memory?
Read the first three articles in this series:
Apply the Brakes and Write More
