Brain Drain

I'm trying to write about Starmada, but my brain is a mite distracted. This won't be very long or interesting. (She might have said something like that.) However, it serves the purpose.

I'm sure I told you about Brain Drain — at least once some while ago. No, I am not referring to Brain Drain pills in the movie We're Back.

I am instead talking about the little exercise I have my students do before writing in earnest. I usually have them sit and write for 9 minutes about nothing and everything and whatever. I really want them to write 7 minutes, but I give them 1 minute to dawdle at the beginning and 1 minute to waste their time during the task. I would prefer that they neither dawdled nor wasted, but, alas, I work with what I have.

I love the looks on their faces when I crumple up and throw out the scraps of paper.

I make it very clear beforehand that the task is to write garbage so that the garbage is out of the way when we set ourselves to a real assignment. Typically, they like to pretend their scribblings were important. Obviously, all writing is important, but not all writing should be preserved. This is not even to mention whether it should be displayed.

By gum! Most of my rambling should not be preserved, but digital space is plentiful, and you may either take it or leave it.

Funny story, I am, in essence, Brain Draining right now because I need to write about Starmada.

You should try it sometime. You should write in general of course, but Brain Draining helps tremendously. Some days, I've had to drain twice or more because of how much sticky distraction was clinging to my brain.

My friends, you really should write!

I've heard all the excuses for not writing. Not one of them is effective.

Too little time? Nobody said you have to write a novel every day! I recommend just a little bit every day: a paragraph, a sentence, a thought, or a mere phrase.
No good at writing? Not many are good at writing, but that doesn't stop the shelves from being stocked with tripe.
Writing isn't your "thing"? You've never properly tried it, so you don't even know!
Nobody would want to read it? Since when does your existence orbit around people's approval? (If it does, I suppose you have other issues on your hands.)
Writing isn't useful? If you've lowered yourself to that excuse, you, once again, have far more dire issues on your hands.

Writing isn't some sudden, magical transition from fearful thoguhts to flourishing novels. It's just the slow, steady pursuit of understanding yourself and the world around you by thinking about it with words.

Moral of the story: go frikkin write!