Has this ever happened to you?

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This morning my writing sent me from beginning a fresh draft of a new chapter in my memoir to my notebook so I could hand-write a section that felt too tender to write on the computer. A paragraph or so into the piece, I shied away from going deeper and, sticky-noting the page in my notebook, went back to the loose-leaf binder where the draft resides and decided before I could go any further, I needed to research the actual route I took from London to Tiel, Netherlands, but memory was handing me “Utrecht,” so I had to go to my original journal to confirm whether Tiel was the location of a scene I intended to write and there, in my decades-old journal, I discovered it was Tiel and I got there via Utrecht but before I could settle in to write, memory took over again and next thing I knew I was in Amsterdam. Now, having put the whole thing away, I’m at my desk eating trail mix and apple slices wondering where the morning went.

What do you do when your writing takes you on some wild mouse ride?

13 thoughts on “Has this ever happened to you?”

  1. Pay attention! Perhaps “you” have a specific destination for your writing, but your subconscious (angels, guides, creative director) is attempting to bring you something far better than your planned writing trajectory. Frankly, this is an issue of trust in the writing process. It may yield golden ideas, prose or … could be a diversionary ploy by a clever ego. Hide the discomfort, keep yourself under wraps – even while you appear to be “honest’. But, write what seems to want to come and later decide. Inspiration wears many hats. Perhaps the getting off track is actually putting you on the best path. Just a thought. Enjoy the process, be brave and explore where your writing (and life) lead you. And go with Best Wishes! Robert Louis Stevenson followed those promptings (his Brownies)!

    • Hello Elizabeth, thanks so much for writing and reminding me, and all readers who might find their way here, that the Muse always has a better idea. I thoroughly enjoyed the process you describe in my messy, notebook scribblings and scratchings of that draft. Now I’m trying to wrangle some of that into a more orderly story. Still, I know this is a back-and-forth, in-and-out process that doens’t end until it does, and until then, all we can do is to continue to make a place for the Muse, right beside us as we follow the dream.

  2. Well, this may be a bit different than recalling from memory but when my writing takes me on a wild mouse ride, I open to the adventure of what is wanting my attention as I am being pulled into this mouse ride.

    I do a process called Active Imagination, whereby I open to the images or the scene that it is presenting itself, like in a dream, and I give the characters, the scene or whatever is presenting full voice. There is a plethora of wisdom held in the essence, if I allow for the story to have it’s uncensored say. Then I create a dialogue, a back and forth, among the images over a cup of coffee to see what is wanting to come into awareness.

    • Hello Eileen, thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience. I love that part of the journey, too, where we allow the writing to take over, or surrender to the page, and open ourselves to what meaning might be held within. I think this is how I wound up with all those notebooks, and expect the process will continue to have its way with me until the project finds its ending.

  3. Thanks for an interesting post Judy.

    Even after years of meditation the ‘wild mice’ of the mind will still want to lead us elsewhere from were we are.
    The only question I ask myself, when this happens to me is – is this a distraction or an exploration?
    When I start drifting down ‘memory lane’ I tend to bring my mind back to the now moment. That’s a personal judgement about not wanting to engage with too much nostalgia, but if you are writing memoirs and wanting to harvest the past as source material, then that’s different matter.

    Whatever approach we adopt exploring the process of creativity – this mysterious and wondrous journey – is an inspiring act that we must all celebrate as it inspires and illuminates our lives…..

    • Hello Michael, thanks for writing. I like “distraction or exploration” because those pop-up memories can be either. But then, some of what I thought might be just distraction, turn out to hold some secret inside that I might not have discovered otherwise. I guess that’s why all those notebooks. I expect this will keep happening as I move from draft to draft. Then at some point, call in a good editor.

      Happy trails on this “mysterious and wondrous journey”

  4. I read that at first as a “wild muse ride”. Perhaps it was.

    I like the idea of getting derailed and side-tracked like that, because it suggests that more memories are resurfacing, fleshing out the story for you. I’m hoping for the same as I get deeper into my memoir. The memoir that is currently just a timeline and an outline!

    • I love that, Deborah, a “wild muse ride.” I’ve had those too.

      I’m sending all kinds of good mojo your way, to begin opening those outline notes into memories. You know what happens: one memory begets another and sometimes it’s all we can do to keep up with them. So grab the tailend of one, or its ear or any loose-hanging thread and let ‘er rip. Good luck! keep me posted. xoox

  5. Funny thing, Judy, every time I wonder where you went you post a new blog. Right on cue!

    As for writing leading me, I generally procrastinate and find things that need to be done first. I wish it would lead me. Guess it’s time to get out Days again now that summer finally burned itself out. Some people still think we have ice and snow and dog teams up here but the fires killed much of our forests. Earth is supposed to get another four years of hot summers — oh look my writing led me away from topic. Yes it leads me. Some people talk like that too.

    • Hi Linda, Yes, my posts on the blog seem few and far between, as they say. I keep intending to post more often, but you know …

      I know your process, too. “procrastinate and find things to get done. Do them. Or not. Procrastinate more. But every now and again, it happens and it happens again.

      Meantime, our weather has changed too. Last night I put my snuggy socks on while I worked. Nice.

      Thanks always for touching in.

    • Hi Tammy. Thanks for stopping by. So glad we get to start over every day. Glad always to read how well it goes for you. xoxo

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