LEFT SIDE OF MY BRAIN

The book is on its way, as I'm now utilizing the left side of my brain more than the right. When this occurs, I feel spacy and disconnected, almost as if I'm on some kind of drug. Once when I was deep in a book, my husband asked me a question and I told him to wait a minute. When I finally answered, he told me an entire day had passed. Granted, this is somewhat extreme, but it does happen. Even when you're talking on the phone, shopping, or involved with other people, you're only half there. The rest of you is writing. You're thinking of characters, crafting sentences, finetuning plot points. I know people who feel they have to write down their thoughts right away or they will forget them. I never worry about that. If its good, I'll remember it. If its not, I'll come up with something better.

One thing you must do to write a novel is be ready to throw away days, weeks, even months of work. Personally, I think this is the single most important trait a novelist must have. One of my writing professors at UCLA, a genius named Leonardo Bercovici, called it "killing your babies." That's what writing a novel is all about, a constant state of evolution. Every day I start on page one. Most people couldn't or wouldn't take the time. To get a seemless novel, you have to start over each day.

Later,

Nancy


Left Brain behaviors respond to:
Recognizing and remembering names
Verbal instructions/information
Processing information sequentially
Evaluating their performance to some standard
Serious, systematic problem-solving
Critical, analytic reading/listening
Problem-solving through logic
Remembering through language
Reading for details and facts
Realistic stories
Leaning through systematic plans
Outlining rather than summarizing
Remembering verbal qualities
Well-structured assignments
Independent

Right Brain behaviors respond to:
Descriptive, concrete
Recognizing and remembering faces
Visual and kinesthetic instruction
Emotional responses (strong)
Producing humorous thoughts/ideas
Processing information subjectively and in patterns
Emphasize second person when writing
Playful problem-solving
Problem-solving through intuition
Demonstrational instructions/information
Remembering though images / pictures
Reading for main ideas/overviews
Fantasy, poetry, myths
Learning through exploration
Summarizing rather than outlining
Open-ended assignments
Sensitive
Prefers an overview of a chapter, book, story before receiving the big picture