This Week, We're Looking at the Psychology of Writing

Most of you know I volunteer at a dog shelter so I work with traumatised dogs. Some are terrified of humans. Some have converted that trauma into aggression. Some bite. Some run. All of those problems can be cured in just one way.

When you walk into a kennel, don’t approach the dog. Don’t expect anything of the dog. Don’t even look at the dog. If the pooch allows you into its kennel, find a low spot. Sit down. Hang. Wait. The dog will almost always approach you*. Dogs are inherently curious creatures with an inexplicable, inbuilt interest in humans. The dog will come to you in 99.9% of cases. If you let it sniff and investigate you, you’ll soon become best friends.

Writing is like working at a dog shelter. You cannot approach the writing. You must wait for the writing to approach you. The words must appear in your head of their own accord. If you force them out, they will snarl, bite, or run away. You must sit quietly and wait.

Franz Kafka said, “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

If you have it in you to be still, the words will arrive.

Unlike dogs, though, words aren’t inherently interested in you. You must make your brain habitable for them, and that’s not always easy to achieve. The most important lesson you’ll ever learn as a writer is how to make your mind a welcoming place for words. We’re all different, so I can’t give you prescriptive, methods for achieving it. You must find your own way by experimenting.

Personally, I’ve found a few things that work well for me. Falling in love is the best of them. That’s why so many writers speak of muses. You don’t always get the option of a new love story, though. Sometimes darkness and misery invite the words in, too, but if I’m happy, they’re not an option either. If I drank, I might make good use of half a bottle of wine, but these days if I need words, I go for a 12-k hike or walk on the beach. I put myself in touch with wildlife, whether that means hunting rock pools for starfish or going to a reserve.

When I come home, there are words waiting for me almost every time.

My mind is only a habitable place if I’m relatively at peace. Anxiety and writing go together like chocolate and carrots. Read: Not at all. I cannot write if my head is muddled, and since I write on Fetlife every day, you can see what happens when I force my writing when my brain isn’t ready for it.

Today’s prompt is the muses. Preferably, read a little about the mythology before you begin writing. Wikipedia is adequate.

• Do not try this at home. At the shelter, we have several mechanisms in place to achieve this safely. Sitting in the presence of an unknown dog is dangerous.