How Do You Write So Often?

Summary

Lucy Dan shares her strategy for maintaining a consistent writing practice by using moments of waiting to jot down ideas, which she later edits and formats during a dedicated email-checking hour.

Abstract

The author, Lucy Dan, addresses the frequent question of how she manages to write so prolifically by revealing her aversion to waiting. She uses the otherwise unproductive time spent waiting—be it for water to boil, the bus to arrive, or appointments to start—to write poems and stories. These initial drafts are sent to herself via email, to be refined during a scheduled hour each evening. Dan encourages other writers to adopt this method to overcome writer's block and invites a list of fellow writers to participate in a challenge to capture writing ideas from life's little moments. She also promotes her work on Medium, including her publication "The Brain is a Noodle," and mentions her transformation of writing ideas into physical products like stickers and podcast episodes.

Opinions

Lucy Dan views idle time as an opportunity for creative writing, emphasizing her dislike for waiting.
She finds that her mind generates the most creative ideas during mundane moments of life.
Dan has developed a systematic approach to collecting and refining her writing ideas, which she believes helps combat writer's block.
She values the writing community and actively contributes to it by sharing her strategies and inviting others to collaborate.
Dan has diversified her writing into various forms of media, including stickers and podcasts, showcasing her belief in the versatility of written content.
She encourages writers to submit their work to her Medium publication or tag her in their pieces so she can share them with a broader audience.

a poem because the cat’s out of the bag! 🐱🐈

Photo by Karina Vorozheeva on Unsplash // can we talk about how pretty this cat is

Many like to ask how do you write so often?

And let me tell you it’s quite simple: I hate waiting.

I hate waiting for my water to boil for pasta, I hate waiting for the bus, I hate waiting for big programs to download before installation, I hate waiting for appointments to start, I hate waiting, I hate waiting, I hate waiting.

So in those moments of waiting, I pull my trusty writing skills out, typing dumb poems about pasta until it the water boils, writing dumb adventures while I wait for my bus to come, singing beer shanties while my code is supposed to run, jotting dumb rhymes until my appointments start.

These thoughts sent in email format from: me to: me to be edited, formatted and made pretty with a cover letter in my dedicated hour of checking email each evening.

That’s how I write so often.

I simply hate waiting.

How do you reign and capture all of those writing ideas from those little moments in life?

Submit it to The Brain is a Noodle or be sure to tag me in your response if you publish elsewhere, so I can read it and share it with the world!

Be sure to hit the 💌 button if you want these daily challenges delivered directly into your inbox!

Hi I’m Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) and I just encounter a lot of dull moments in the ordinary softness of life, yknow? In those moments, my idle mind comes up with the weirdest shenanigans that form the seed of the numerous pieces I’ve published here on Medium, and also transformed into tiny poem stickers and podcast episodes for your ears. Transforming this superpower into prompts and ideas to crack at the terrible constipation that is writer’s block is my way to give back to the writing community. Because I’ve surely taken a lot from others who have shared their systems that have helped me fight my own weakness — moving from idea to fully published pieces!

Hop down the rabbit hole? 🐰🕳

How Do You Write So Often?

a poem because the cat’s out of the bag! 🐱🐈

Submit to 🧠The Brain is a Noodle🍜!

The Brain is a Noodle is inviting writers like you to submit poetry and articles!

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