Everyday Canvas

Using Non-Writing Time for Writing

Prompt: What are some of the ways you make your non-writing time serve your writing?

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Most anything I do and feel will have an effect on my writing. This is a given, but there are a few things I do when I am not writing that can count for writing practice.

If I am doing something, a mundane activity like potting a plant, for example, I repeat to myself the steps I am taking. This can come in handy when I have two characters talking. One could be potting a plant, and the steps he or she takes will enhance or even replace the ‘he said, she said’ tags. Since I am telling the steps to myself, my brain will recall them more easily.

Taking a walk is a good form of exercise. Not only that but also the things I see on my way end up getting inside my writing. If I have any means of taking notes, I take notes, but if I don’t, I take pictures for reference. It is also possible to dictate short notes in my cellphone, although I've never tried that.

Watching a good movie or a play and reading are among the other activities that help, by offering new metaphors, ideas, and at times, good plot construction pointers.

Talking to people, friends or strangers, help with characterization. Not only I can focus on their mimics but also I can imitate the way they pronounce and use words to express themselves.

In the same vein, when I go to the mall, I sit down on a chair and watch people. Everyone’s walking and dressing styles are unique, and they will come in handy with character action. Not just the mall but everywhere I go, people watching is a habit. Good characters make good stories, and I can’t have enough character information in my head if I don’t watch people.

Traveling, when I did it, also gave me my world view and I am sure in some roundabout way helped my writing. Yet, traveling is difficult in later ages, but for the younger set, it is a good idea to take every opportunity to travel, to see and experience different things, places, and people.

Writing down notes sometimes helps but they, too, count as writing. Still, I carry odd pieces of paper in an envelope in my purse, to jot down a sentence or two just to remind me of what I have experienced and seen.