Comments on: Ways to Organize Your Thoughts for Writing

By: Miffie Seideman

Miffie Seideman — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 16:43:17 +0000

Thanks, Ellen, for the great information, as always! Much like Eldred and Laura, I try to untangle my scattered thoughts out on bike rides, and sometimes runs. I'll stop periodically and voice text them into my Notes app. The notes are usually simple bullet points of the thoughts hitting me at the time, so I don't lose them. It keeps me from worrying that when I get home and the endorphins are gone, that the ideas will be gone. I usually try to get one scene per Note page, so that when I get home I can print the pages off and play with the scenes.

By: jamesr403

jamesr403 — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 09:25:45 +0000

Excellent essay, Ellen! I remember the first time I saw a "visual-spatial" outline. I was at a convention and walked past a writer named Robert Ray, who I'd taken classes from. I was going to say hello & decided not to when I saw he was working on an outline that was circles with lines connecting them so I didn't interrupt. That's not an outline format for me -- I'm too linear! But it works for him. Thanks!

By: dholcomb1

dholcomb1 — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 06:39:53 +0000

I use a combination which includes a journal, notes, post-its, music, etc...

denise

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 05:27:25 +0000

In reply to Eldred Bird. Laura Drake does this same thing! She says she does tons of plotting on the bike. :-)

By: Eldred Bird

Eldred Bird — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 00:09:31 +0000

In reply to Ellen Buikema. The app I use is call ColorNote.

By: Ellen Buikema

Ellen Buikema — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 23:05:55 +0000

In reply to Eldred Bird. Great idea! Do you have a talk-to-text you'd like to recommend?

By: Eldred Bird

Eldred Bird — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 20:54:40 +0000

Organizing my thoughts can be real challenge, so I plan on trying a few of these methods. What I do currently is use a talk-to-text app on my phone to get ideas documented in the moment, usually while taking a walk or shopping. To clear my head I go for long walks or bike rides. It gives my body something to do while my brain clears out the mess.

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 20:01:02 +0000

In reply to Ellen Buikema. Oh! That is super-interesting, Ellen. I love to hear about therapies like this.

By: Ellen Buikema

Ellen Buikema — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 19:29:22 +0000

In reply to Jenny Hansen. I hear you! I was a Resource Specialist Program Teacher, RSP, in four States. Many of my students were Bodily-Kinesthetic kids. I referred to B-K as Full-Body learners, which made more sense to the parents. You need more room for students who have strengths in this area. We did all kinds of interesting things, like writing in the air using right and left hands to entertain both sides of the brain. Actually, many of us are Full-Body learners, we've merely adjusted over time.

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 18:22:40 +0000

Thanks for this post, Ellen! I particularly liked the Theory of Multiple Intelligences - I see this all time with kids, that they are naturally good at very different things. I'm always so sad when the Bodily-Kinesthetic kids get pushed to be Logical-Mathematical, or some other version of that. I know they need to exercise every part of the brain, but for the kids you watch grow up, you can literally watch some of their natural abilities get squashed.