Writing Tip 7 – Daydream, cultivate a level of laziness, and get a good night’s sleep

I always felt that daydreaming was an important component of creativity, but a recent program on Radio National’s All in the Mind called The Mind at Rest suggests that there is a growing body of evidence that shows how very important daydreaming and sleep are to create and to maintain a healthy mind. Not all of the time, but some of the time.  And there is a growing body of evidence that certain stages of sleep appear important for the consolidation of learning and memory.

So the writing tip for this week is – take time to daydream. This means, don’t work too hard! Even better, you can do some gardening or the ironing or washing-up - any activity where your hands are busy, but your mind is free to wander. Become less focussed. If you travel in a train or bus, stare out of the window instead of at your screen.

This is related to the play tip post earlier, but here I'm not suggesting that you need to use the daydream for your writing. The idea is to allow the mind to get back into a habit of daydreaming – that habit that seems so relentlessly trained out of children from the moment they enter school. Now it turns out staring into space is actually good for you. With the prevalence of activities to fill every spare moment with distraction, the gift of daydreaming is going to become increasingly rare, I think. It is up to the artists and writers to keep it alive.  And the parents of young children. And the teachers...

Writing Prompt:

Try this experiment: the writing prompt for this week is to do no writing. Use the time you would normally be writing to daydream. Lie down, listen to some gentle instrumental music, and let your mind wander. Get back into the habit of make believe. If your mind wanders to your story, all the better, but don't force it. Get back into the writing next week.

Alternatively, try the two thirds, one third method. Two thirds imagining and dreaming about your story, one third writing. Use this if you don't want to leave the writing alone for a week.