Links Mentioned in This Episode:

Your Happy First Draft

10-Minutes to Transform Your Writing Speed (Free Tutorial)

How to Make a Mind Map with Mind Mapping Software

How to Reach Daphne:

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The Resilient Writers Radio Show: Interview with Daphne Gray-Grant – Full Episode Transcript

Intro:

Well, hey there, Writer. Welcome to The Resilient Writers Radio Show. I'm your host, Rhonda Douglas. And this is the podcast for writers who want to create and sustain a writing life they love.

Because let's face it, the writing life has its ups and downs, and we want to not just write, but also to be able to enjoy the process so that we'll spend more time with our butt-in-chair getting those words on the page.

This podcast is for writers who love books and everything that goes into the making of them. For writers who want to learn and grow in their craft and improve their writing skills. Writers who want to finish their books and get them out into the world so their ideal readers can enjoy them. Writers who want to spend more time in that flow state.

Writers who want to connect with other writers to celebrate and be in community, in this crazy roller coaster ride, we call the writing life. We are resilient writers. We're writing for the rest of our lives and we're having a good time doing it. So welcome, Writer. I'm so glad you're here. Let's jump right into today's show.

Rhonda:

Well, hey there, Writer. Welcome back to another episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. So today we're going to talk about how to draft fast or faster. And with me, I have Daphne Gray-Grant and Daphne grew up in her family's weekly newspaper business, started working there at 16 and eventually managed the entire operation while also completing her university education. And eventually she left that business to become a senior editor at The Vancouver Sun.

Her book, The Birth of Fast, was also the birth of her triplet children in 1994. And she then had constant interruptions and tight deadlines. So she has developed tools to overcome her lifelong case of writer's block and to boost productivity. And so without really meaning to, she'd taken the skills of daily journalism and turbocharged them. So you can find her at the publication coach and she's a blogger, a YouTube host and the author of 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better and Your Happy First Draft. Welcome, Daphne. So glad you're here. 

Daphne:

Thanks so much, Rhonda.

Rhonda:

So you have developed out of necessity in your own writing life, tools to help you draft faster. Can you tell us a little bit about your own writing journey and why you had to develop those tools?

Daphne:

Sure, I think the issue for me is that I was one of those people who was a born editor. I grew up loving editing. It was my favorite thing to do. When I was in high school, I would edit my assignments and I'd also edit the assignments of my friends. And when I was in university, I did the same thing. And for me, that was always my favorite part of the writing process.  I just found it easy to do and I was naturally good at it.

But when it came to writing, to getting that rough draft on the page, that was absolute agony for me. I hated every nanosecond of it. So, I would have to go through these elaborate mental rituals to persuade myself to write a couple of sentences and then yay, I'd get to edit them. So that was really the heart of my problem. And I have since spoken with many, many other writers who have similar problems with liking editing and really not liking the writing process. 

Rhonda:

Do you feel like it's related at all to perfectionism? Like, sort of you don't want to let yourself write that first draft because you know the first draft will be incomplete, full of holes, you know, the typical crappy first draft, rough first draft, and it can be hard for some of us to face that.

Daphne:

Sure, sure, that's absolutely part of it. I think the other issue is that, well, you know, just in our society, we're not  trained in the craft of writing. You know, what happens in school is that teachers grab their red pencils and they mark up the spelling errors and the grammar mistakes, but no one ever talks to us about the psychology of writing.

And the part that really irritates me, I work with a certain percentage of graduate students and they are literally thrown off the deep end. Their universities expect them to be able to write from the word go. They give them no instruction, no help, no support in doing that writing. I think it's an absolute tragedy. There are some clear psychological principles that you really need to understand to be able to write and almost no one teaches those.

Rhonda:

Okay, well let's dive into it. What are those psychological principles? 

Daphne:

Well, I would say the first one is that you need to start with a very small amount of time. I work with a number of writers and when they first come into my program, they often tell me they want to write for an hour or two or hours, sometimes three or four hours per day. 

And if they don't hit that number, they feel they're not actually writing and could not be further from the truth. Even five minutes is enough to start a writing habit. And so people tend to set these unrealistic goals for themselves. And then when they're unable to achieve them, and I would say when they're predictably unable to achieve. 

Rhonda:

Right. I mean, who could write for three or four hours a day? Most people can’t. 

Daphne:

Exactly. They become discouraged. You know the metaphor I like to use is if I were to ask you to run a marathon tomorrow, you would probably not agree unless you're secretly someone who's trained for marathons. 

Rhonda:

Yes, yes.

Daphne:

Because we all understand that to run a marathon, you need to have trained first and you need to have trained for a considerable amount of time. Well, exactly the same thing is true of writing. If you want to write for three hours, you need some significant training to be able to do that. But no one understands that.  

Rhonda:

Absolutely. So when we get ourselves to the point where we can write for shorter amounts of time  and kind of, as you say, build up the muscle, you know, get the training in place, what happens then for us psychologically? Like, what's the next issue that comes up?

Daphne:

I'm sorry, one other thing I just want to say about this point of writing for five minutes at a time. The other aspect of that is I think it's important to do it every day. Sure, take weekends off if you want, and they don't have to be on weekend days, you know, take a couple of days off a week to refresh yourself, but otherwise do it every day. 

Why? Because what happens is we so easily lose track of our writing. We forget, we don't remember what it is we are working on. And then when we go back to the job, we have to reacquaint ourselves with it. And that's very time consuming. And it also presents a little bit of a barrier for many people. 

So they think, I need to write today. And it's like, oh, what am I going to do? Where am I going to start? There are all these questions that arise that serve to make the barrier of entry even harder. So if it's something you're doing every day, you just dive in and do it. It's kind of like brushing your teeth. It has become a habit.

Few people have angst about brushing their teeth every night. It's just something they do. And writing could fall into a category like that. 

Rhonda:

So I've always been resistant to the idea of telling people to write every day, right? Because I think it's, when we think about writing every day, we think about a half hour, 45 minutes, an hour, two hours, right? But if you're just going to do it for five or 10 minutes a day, you can write every day. 

Daphne:

Yes, exactly. 

Rhonda:

Right. Okay. Every time somebody says write every day, I'm like, who's doing your laundry?  Right, but five or 10 minutes is doable. So what do you say to people when they say, well, that doesn't feel like enough time to make any progress?

Daphne:

I say have a good talk with yourself because it is enough time to make. I once helped a woman who was working on her PhD dissertation and it had to be a hundred thousand words. And she, for a lot of very understandable reasons, was deeply traumatized about writing. 

And so when I met with her, we came to a mutual decision that she was going to write for two minutes a day, two minutes. Now, I am very thankful she did not talk to her supervisor about this plan we hatched.

Rhonda:

Right, I can see that reaction already, 

Daphne:

Yeah, yeah. So the supervisor would have gone crazy. And what's more, she stuck to the two minutes for three months. So she didn't go beyond two minutes for three months. Now she was deeply traumatized about writing for some very good reasons, but so she stuck with the two minutes. And then after that, she was able to gradually ramp up her time. And she finished her 100,000 word thesis on time, which was two years, and was very happy about it. And now she's working as a postdoc.

So you don't have to write for hours at a time to make some really good solid progress,  even if the word count you're aiming for is quite steep.

Rhonda:

Okay. And so here we are, we're writing for five or 10 minutes every day. What's the next psychological thing that kind of trips us up? Well, I think one of the things that happens is that people often don't quite know what the next step to take is. So getting started is very difficult for many, many people. 

So the kind of rhythm I suggest is that when people write, they should do it in the morning if they can, because morning is a way better time for most people, actually even for night owls.  So if you can write for five minutes in the morning, you're not going to have had that little voice talking in your ear saying, “You can't do this, your writing is too boring, no one's gonna wanna read this, yada, yada, yada.” That voice won't have had time to gear up yet. 

Rhonda:

I know that voice, yes. 

Daphne:

Many of us do. So right before that voice really gets established. And then the second thing I would say is when you've finished your daily writing, write yourself some notes about what you want to write the next day. 

Rhonda:

Oh, that's huge. That's so helpful.

Daphne:

Yeah. Because what happens is when you're writing, you're embroiled in your story and you're thinking about it. You are in the prime position to make some plans for the next day's writing. You're in a way better position than you will be the next morning after sleep, after having had a day when you've done a whole bunch of other things. 

And the connection with your book has kind of gone a bit sideways. So when you are deeply embroiled in it, take that opportunity to write yourself a couple of sentences maybe or a couple of bullet points about what you want to do the next day. 

And then the next thing I would say is if you are writing the next day is going to require any research, then do it the day before. So you always want to start your day with writing as opposed to researching. If you start with researching, it's way too easy to get off track to get off. 

Rhonda:

Oh, so easy. Yeah. I think research has a very particular spot in the writing process. It's, I think it's one of the ways we procrastinate. Right. Like I tell myself, oh, I'd better read this entire book on, you know, the sanitation issues of Victorian England. And all I really needed to know is what year did middle class people have toilets in their homes? That's it. That's all I needed to know. But I told myself that I needed to know more than I did as a way to procrastinate from the actual writing. 

Daphne:

Exactly. Exactly. That's how many people use research. So the thing is, you don't want to let the research time get in the way of your writing time. So always write first. Draw a little bubble or box around yourself that you protect and keeping the research out of that time is one of the protection things that you need to do. 

Rhonda:

Yeah, I love that. So how can we, let's say we've built up a bit of muscle. We've been writing for five, 10 minutes a day for a while now.  And we have a book, memoir, a novel, you know,  book of poetry. We have a book we want to finish. How can we finish at least that first draft faster than we otherwise might. Do you have any suggestions for that? 

Daphne:

Yeah, I have another trick that I would like to mention. And to me, it's really the secret sauce for writing. And that's called mind mapping. So many people may have heard of mind mapping and not used it. 

Rhonda:

Yeah, I used it in the corporate world, basically, in my day job.  

Daphne:

Right, right. And the other thing I'd say is that many people might not use it correctly or in the best way possible for writing. The trick of mind mapping has existed since the time of Leonardo da Vinci. He's actually, no, since ancient Greece is when it started. Ancient Greece or Rome, perhaps, I'm not remembering for sure, but existed in the ancient world. It was used by Leonardo da Vinci and then it kind of went dormant for a number of centuries.

And it was reinvigorated in the 1970s by two people. One was Tony Buzin. You may have heard of him. He wrote about 50 books on mind mapping. And the other  was Gabriel Luzerico. She's a writer based in California. Interesting to me, they both came up with the same concept at about the same time, almost exactly the same time, actually. He called it mind mapping. She called it clustering. So  for people my age or a little younger, they may have been taught to do clustering in high school perhaps. 

The thing I would say is that  I have developed some specific techniques related to mind mapping that tend to help writers a little more. Both Tony and Gabriel suggest putting the topic in the center of the page. And instead, I suggest asking a question. This is fundamentally changing to the whole aspect of mind mapping because it makes you much, much more focused and it makes you much more likely to get something concrete out of the mind map you're doing. 

Rhonda:

What kind of question would I ask? Is it something like, you know, what is, you know, how do I increase the stakes in Act Two?  What would you put in the center there? 

Daphne:

You can put any kind of question you want. And there are some very specific questions you can relate to solving problems. That's a way I really like to use mind mapping. So I might say, you know, I'm unhappy with this section of this blog post I'm writing, what could I do to make it better? Or, you know, you can use it personally as well. I mean, I probably do five mind maps a day. I will mind map anything. 

Rhonda:

Yeah, I use it as well for that kind of thing. I actually used it for poetry to get beyond the immediate image because with poets, you know, the first image that comes to mind or the first set of words that come to mind can be cliched. 

Daphne:

Yes.

Rhonda:

And we want to avoid cliches. So it actually the the kind of you know, layers to mind mapping help you kind of reach beyond your initial impulse. Love it for poets.

Daphne:

Right. Good point. Yes. Yes. Just for anyone who's listening, who hasn't heard of mind mapping before, I probably should give a slightly more detailed explanation. So what you do with a mind map is you take a piece of paper and you turn it sideways. That's really, really important because what that does is it opens up a bunch of space around the sides of the paper where we're not used to having space.

And that's kind of like a visual symbol to your brain that you can go outside of the box, quite literally. You can allow your thinking to go in any direction whatsoever. One of the reasons that mind mapping is so much more helpful and effective than outlining is because you don't have to decide where things go. They can go anywhere on the page.

This issue kind of relates to how our brains operate. We have a part of our brain that is very, very deeply creative. And we have another part of our brain that isn't creative at all, but that it's very linear and logical. So that's at the front, it's the prefrontal cortex. And that's the part of our brain that we are highly rewarded for using in our society, in our jobs, in school, in whatever.

And that's the part of the brain that's also really good for editing. And that, I think, is the core of the reason why I had so many problems many years ago, because I had exercised my editing muscles so much that I had not used my creative brain at all. And I was trying and I was able to a certain limited degree to write with my editing brain. But of course, it wasn't comfortable and it wasn't fast at all.

So what you want to do if you're mind mapping is you want to get into your creative brain. And mind mapping makes that really easy because you don't have to think about where things belong. That's the trouble with outlines. They force you into that logical linear part of your brain. Whereas mind maps are creative and ideas springs to your mind, you write it down on the page. 

Another idea springs to your mind, you write it down on the page. Doesn't matter where you write it down. You just get it on paper. So that's why I think mind mapping is so helpful in terms of allowing people to use their creative brains.  

Daphne:

Love that. So you have a tool for folks where you kind of walk them through this, right?  So I'll put that in the show notes and people can go and download that because I think that it's a really great, it's just a great tool in so many ways, like for, as you say, for solving problems, for brainstorming, for, you know, if you're sitting there wondering what to write next, you know, a mind map absolutely can help you. 

Any other suggestions, Daphne, for how people can get that first draft done faster than they otherwise might? 

Daphne:

Yeah, I have another good little trick that many people tell me makes a huge difference to them. I call it the promissory note. So when you come to a spot in your writing where you think, oh, I need to figure out, you know, when toilets were installed in the UK, what year did that start happening? Don't stop writing when you have a question like that. Just write a note directly in your manuscript. Develop some kind of notation system for yourself. I use square brackets.

Rhonda:

I use square brackets too. I love the square bracket. 

Daphne:

Yeah. Or you can do it in a different color. You can highlight it. You can do it. You know, if you use track changes, you can do it as a comment. Just come up with your own system, but don't stop writing. Put a note and say, look up the year toilets came into common use in the UK or you know, what's the correct spelling of, um, you know, J.G. Hufflesinger's last name,  you know? 

Don't stop your writing to look up some boring, simple piece of factual information. Many people say to me, well, it'll only take me 30 seconds on Google. And I look them in the eye and I say, have you ever known anything that takes only 30 seconds in Google? 

Rhonda:

Yeah, so true, right? Yeah, go down rabbit holes.

Daphne:

Exactly, exactly. So don't waste your precious writing time on rabbit holes. Just write yourself a note directly in your manuscript and then keep writing.

Rhonda:

Fabulous, I love that. And it's something I do and something I teach. So I think there's a few tips here today, all the way from mind mapping to writing for five to 10 minutes a day and  the square brackets and not stopping all the time that will get you to a faster draft for sure. Thank you so much for being with me today, Daphne. It was really great to talk to you. 

Daphne:

My pleasure, Rhonda. Thanks so much.

Outro:

Thanks so much for hanging out with me today and for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. While you're here, I would really appreciate it if you'd consider leaving a rating and review of the show. You can do that in whatever app you're using to listen to the show right now, and it just takes a few minutes.

Your ratings and reviews tell the podcast algorithm gods that yes, this is a great show, definitely recommend it to other writers. And that will help us reach new listeners who might need a boost in their writing lives today as well. So please take a moment and leave a review. I'd really appreciate it. And I promise to read every single one. Thank you so much.