I’m a member of the Writer’s Digest writer’s community. I host the “Nonfiction Writer’s” group. In the group I have a continuing discussion “What is one of your biggest challenges you are facing right now in completing your nonfiction writing project?”
Ed, a member of the group, yesterday responded with, “Finding the right balance between using illustrations and avoiding rabbit trails with my illustrations.”
I thought I would post my response here on the blog for you to read. Here is my response to Ed…
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Ed, it's been a long time since I've heard the term rabbit trails. You created an amazing visual for me when you said it. Good job. For those that haven't heard the term, it means going down the wrong path. The visual I had was a narrow, maybe two feet by two feet path with a slight upgrade going up a mountain side as far as one's eye can see. It could also mean a rabbi's sermon but I don't think that was your meaning.
I find my mind going off onto the rabbit trail quite often. From what I understand it's common for right brain, creative individuals. I also found it to be a way of avoiding completing the original path. Some exerts say it's actually part of writer's block. Years back I didn't agree with the writer's block theory. Now I do. Some therapists say it's part of anxiousness. A point when a person begins to fear something causing anxiousness. Like the writer's block theory, I didn't agree with it before but now I do. I think all of it is intertwined.
I'm certified in NLP (neuro-linquists programming) and one of the ways I have helped myself with this was to purchase the "easy" button from Staples. Because I knew my rabbit trail behavior and thinking was a habit that needed retaining. I needed a way to catch myself; become conscious of when this was occurring. There are other terms for this in NLP; however, I'll keep this conversation simple.
I would just hit the button and hear "this is easy." It would snap me back. At least most of the time. At the beginning it worked a little, then it got better, and eventually it became a "whoosh" feeling that Tony Robbins trained me on so many years ago. When it becomes a whoosh feeling you can kind-of see the easy button and you're hitting it without the action. It just whooshes through you in an quick energy wave in a split second. This now happens to me when I'm listening to someone and my mind begins to wonder.
The "easy button" isn't a must. A snap of the fingers, or taping on the elbow, or a slap on the leg or any other unusual movement can be used. However, for me the red button and the noise was required. Maybe because I use other movements, trained myself in those, for other things.
You don't need NLP necessarily. I use other ways to become aware of when I'm starting down the rabbit hole. Sometimes I just ask the question, "Catherine, where are you going now?" This doesn't have much of a success rate for me though. If I'm using the pen, I give the though two words and record it in the margin and then keep moving back to where I was.
Like any type of retraining, it takes conscious awareness and consistent effort to change. It's so worth it though. I noticed my writing improved significantly and my completion rate as well. This occurred many years back when I was barely getting one article done a day and I wanted to change that to five a day. After a few months I was up to five a day and my publication rate increased significantly as well. Then again, remembering back, I used a rotating format for this. I drafted one article, then another, then another, etc. Sometimes all five and then returned to the first one for editing. Sometimes I would get through the second one and return to the first. I flopped back and forth if needed to accommodate my mind shifts and to walk with the rabbit trail.
- Catherine
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