I have been moving through the journey of The Art of Intuitive Structure by Sage Adderly in a book club that she is hosting. This week we read chapter five, which is about listening to your intuition.
We were asked to do a five- to ten-minute brain dump relating to the project or book we are working on. Now, as you should know, I’ve finished my first novel, and my current “project” is the launch of that book. However, that is mostly planned, and I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d be working on next. So I did what I do here on the blog. I rambled.
This rambling that I do so often on my own is exactly the kind of brain dump Sage asks the reader to do. I wrote all of my thoughts and feelings regarding what will come next for me and for my characters. Because, yes, my characters will continue to live on in my next book(s). I dumped thoughts of point of view, characters, where to find inspiration/research, and whatever random thoughts were running through my head. And that’s when it became clear what my next book will be.
When my ten-minutes was over, my brain kept going. Ideas kept sparking in all directions for the next several days. I even found myself pulling out the notes app on my phone to jot down ideas.
Then today we did another brain dump where I dove a bit deeper into what my next story would explore. I felt confident that I knew the main theme and a few of the challenges the characters would meet along the way. The next task was to collage about the story (see photo above).
Being me, I had thoughts in my head of what kinds of pictures I was looking for as I flipped through the magazines. But intuition doesn’t want preconceived ideas. And those thoughts did not come through at all. Sure, there were a few elements that found their way into the image, but the big one? The main theme? Completely different. Yes, they have some similarities but imply a very different dynamic than I’d originally been thinking. And I love it. (Sorry to be vague, it’s still really early in the process of this next book.)
To think that I had no clue what I would be writing next just last week and now I’m excited to begin. However, beginning will have to wait a couple of weeks. I’m leaving for Ireland tomorrow evening, so I won’t be writing. But no promises about brain dumps, research, or inspiration seeking!
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