The Writer's Process: Getting Your Brain in Gear (The Writer's Process Series)

Writing is hard. Committing to a book project is harder. After reading Ms Janzer's blog I decided that she is knowledgeable, professional, and prolific and knows how to write about writing. I bought the book.The book is very professionally researched and written, reflecting her exceptional skills. She writes on spec, for her blog, every day, and makes what I expect is a good living at it. Her focus and valuable insights on the development of a writing practice, something I don't currently have, is compelling. It's a hard habit to develop. The theme here is HARD.I'm a consultant and have been researching and refining my practice for 30 years and it dawned on me that if i don't communicate my body of specific and unique knowledge in some digestible way, all that work and successful implementation will die with me. It is time to put it where it can make a difference.Gathering and organizing many gigs of that research (Step 1) took me well over a month. Once that was done I felt like I'd accomplished a great deal of the initial work. But that was easier than Step 2-Incubation, i.e., making sense of the research and developing insights that turn it into something of value for a reader. Anne's references to the two parts of your brain -the Scribe and the Muse - that have to tag-team through the process is actually quite helpful.Bottom line, nothing in The Writer's Process makes the project any easier. What it does is tell the truth about what's necessary to get it done in such an accessible way that it made me feel that I could actually do it.Anne is extremely upbeat, but never sugar coats the work involved or ever implies that she'll turn you into a writer. I am a lifelong learner, so I have read enough crap about "10 easy steps to whatever" and "write your book in 27 days" and other such claptrap that I can smell a marketing ploy a mile away. I never caught even a whiff of that here.After I finished reading the book I discussed it and my admiration for it with a colleague who is already a prolific blogger and podcaster. He bought it, read it, then came into my office and said "I didn't like it. She wanted me to do stuff."Yeah she does.My copy is full of dog ears, highlights, post its, and flags. As I do this work I continue to refer to it, not because i missed anything (I have a notebook devoted to important parts and specific insights to my own material and needs), but because she knows her stuff so well that my experience implementing makes her material more valuable as I go.To be clear, I don't have a book yet and I'm probably another two or three weeks from starting to draft, but when I start that draft it will be what I have been planning from the start and I know what it will take to cross the finish line.Whether I publish or not, this puppy's getting down on paper. By then I believe it will be worth publishing because (not to put too blunt a point on it) it will change lives.Good luck to you.

Have you ever swung a baseball bat, tennis racket, or golf club? You don't need formal training to do any of those things, nor do you need do swing them in a specific manner to be effective. Writing is the same way. Everybody has a style that they've figured out over time, and it works for them.Or, maybe it doesn't. Maybe, like the baseball, tennis, or golf player, you find yourself consistently stumbling in certain areas of writing, so it becomes frustrating. This is when we tend to seek out tips and tricks...or...we look at how our personal process compares to best practices and fundamentals.That's what The Writer's Process was for me. Anne Janzer pulled back the curtain on how the different parts of our brains function during the writing process, so we can see where we might be able to practice to improve areas where we stumble.For me, learning about the "hand-off" between her "Scribe" and "Muse" characters (two parts of our brains) was critical. For example: I dwell on topics when I take breaks from writing; they tug at me as loose ends and make it hard to focus on doing other things. So I go back to writing and neglect tasks that might have deadlines associated with them. This is bad, but the breaks and the ideas of loose ends are actually part of the writing process! Now that I've learned this, I'm looking at that break period from a more informed perspective, plus, Anne provided some helpful tips to make that "tugging" go away.Very happy to have discovered this book; I'm always proud of what I write and how my writing is received by my audience, but the process wasn't always fun or efficient, and as you saw above, it messes with my productivity elsewhere. Looking forward to changing that by implementing what I learned in The Writer's Process. Thank you Anne!

This book left me very motivated to start writing, and developing better habits.Although this book is ostensibly about writing, there are many, many insights into the writing process that are very applicable to tackling development projects or simply finding more effective ways to work. She cites a lot of science that explains how our brain functions and why it leads to moments of brilliance and great productivity or tortured writing and procrastination, about why we tackle some projects with eagerness, or why we approach it with trepidation.
This book has recently won a slew of awards, and they are well deserved. Although the topic might seem irrelevant if you’re not a professional (or aspiring) writer, I found it light, engrossing, and motivating, and it made me think about how I tackle all sorts of thing, not just writing.
It’s a short book that you could read in a couple of sittings (even if you’re a slow reader as I am). But I’d encourage you not to binge read it as her insights are worth spending time digesting.
If I weren’t retired, I would have bought copies for all of the folks who reported to me. Most of them had to write as part of their jobs, and they all lead software development projects. This book would have helped in all aspects of their jobs.

For me, it includes some traditional advice.

A great glimpse into the blood, sweat, and tears that both push and pull an author into their work. Some wake up with the birds every morning, grab their coffee and hit their pages as if clocking into a factory. Others need a little prodding, while some find they need to will themselves as if they're preparing to skydive. One thing is for certain, a writer's process is akin to their voice... every writer has their own.

Writing, creating a story or compiling non-fiction in a new and revealing way, is a complex process if you look at tasks required. There are two major modes that need to be understood to use the process effectively. Knowing how to summon and use the modes makes things easier. This book lays it out for use and understanding. Highly recommend it for all writers.

The writer has an easy to read to the point writing style. She provides good examples of what works for her and good reasoning why it should work

As described.

This book is very important for the writers. It gives step by step , the different rubrics and values of writing a book. To follow the guidelines that can bring the best book out of your mind.Thank you for such a marvelous book.

This is a good book for upcoming writers. This book has a schedule and tools of the muse (a fictional term) and writing. But the tools are outdated and not contemporary. I am using Scrivener, which doesn't require a separate structure creation. This book is a very important tool for authors, in this book mentioned not much about Amazon KDP.This book is worth reading, but we cannot follow it blindly.