#27: Pay Attention to Draw Attention
Show Notes\n\nSummary:\nDuring the holiday season, while traveling and hosting or visiting others, you may not be able to keep up your writing at the same pace. We discussed in the last episode the benefit of having a rut to run in, and yet\xa0as we head into these next couple of months, we may not be able to maintain our writing routines at the same level.\n\nToday I want to encourage you that even if you are unable to keep up even a modified version of your writing routine, you can still\xa0do one thing: pay attention, to draw attention.\n\nIf you pay attention to the details, events and interactions surrounding you over the next few weeks and you have a way to collect and store them, you will be able to use all of that for later, when you\u2019re writing, to draw\xa0attention.\n\nOliver Burkeman in an article in The Guardian, highlights thoughts on writing from Steven Pinker, who points out that writing is inherently a psychological phenomenon, "a way that one mind can cause ideas to happen in another mind."\n\nSo our job is to be the ones who see, to notice what\u2019s going on in the world directly around us, and beyond. We can take notes and store them someplace where we can find them again when we sit down to work. It may not feel like writing, but it's the work of a writer.\n\nThis can be a task for the holidays if you can\u2019t find an hour to open your computer and write. You could press pause on your work-in-progress\xa0for a few days, and instead, pay attention, take notes, and be ready to write, later, through story, description, the essay form, poetry, or fiction, in a way that draws the reader\u2019s attention to something you\u2019ve seen.\n\nThis holiday season, pay attention. Gather what you need to recreate the scene, the moment, the revelation, the sensory experience, and store it up for later. Just type a few notes into Evernote or OneNote\u2014wherever you would drop a few sentences or bullet points to jog your memory.\n\nWhen the days return to normal, you can pull those notes into Word, a Google Doc, or Scrivener, and start the process of \u201cjoint attention,\u201d walking alongside your future reader. Write as if you\u2019re saying, \u201cLook here. Can you see it?\u201d\n\nPay attention, so you can draw your reader\u2019s attention.\nIdeas from this episode:\n\n\tShould you write for yourself or for an audience?\xa0The answer is "for an audience," but not to impress them; using the concept of "joint attention," help them discern something you know they'd be able to see, if only they were looking in the right place.\n\tOur job as writers is to being the ones who see\u2014to notice what\u2019s going on in the world directly around us, and beyond.\n\tThis holiday season, pay attention and gather what you need to recreate the scene, the moment, the revelation, the sensory experience\u2014and store it up for later.\n\tWhen you can find time to sit at your computer, write as if you\u2019re saying, \u201cLook here. Can you see it?\u201d\n\tPay attention, so you can draw your reader\u2019s attention.\n\nResources:\n\n\t"This column will change your life: how to think about writing" (The Guardian\xa0article by\xa0Oliver Burkeman)\n\tWrite in the Middle of the Holidays\n\t#26 Why Writers Need a Rut to Run In\xa0(podcast episode)\n\t#13 Multi-sensory Writing\n\n* * *\nListen for the full podcast. You can subscribe with iTunes\xa0and\xa0Stitcher,\xa0where I'd love to have you subscribe, rate, and leave a review. You can also\xa0use the feed with any podcast player you use.\n\nConnect with me on Twitter\xa0and\xa0Facebook, where I'm always sharing\xa0ideas to help us be more curious, creative, and productive.\n______________________________\n\nIs your writing life all it can be?\n\n\n\xa0\n\nLet this book act as your personal coach, to explore the writing life you already have and the writing life you wish for, and close the gap between the two.\n\n"A genial marriage of practice and theory. For writers new and seasoned. This book is a winner."\n\n\u2014Phil Gulley, author of Front Porch Tales