My Writing Philosophy: How ideas form, and why it's OK if they're bad

One of my earliest illustration drafts, "Something's Fishy"

I'll be honest: Most of my ideas for poems don't get made into a rough draft. I have a long list of ideas going back years, and some I cringe at every time I read them.

On top of that, many of my rough drafts won't ever make it into a book. Same thing: some are laughably bad, some are just terrible. For some, I can't ever see a way they'll be useable.

But I'll let you in on a secret: That's OK.

The first step to making anything worth keeping is to make it exist first. 

During that fever-fueled, writing frenzy weekend years ago, the rhymes felt almost magical. The creative flow was a torrent, and I had tapped into something I didn't know I had the ability to do.

Looking back, I can see the poems for what they were: ideas that I was able to quickly turn into rough drafts. The meter was all over the place or missing entirely. The rhyming was poorly done. The stories were sometimes one-dimensional. But all of those creations had the same thing in common: a spark of curiosity and imagination.

The creativity was flowing, and I wasn't worried about whether it was good or not. I wasn't worried about "making a mistake". I just wrote whatever popped into my head. And that was really the secret sauce for me. The philosophy I adopted, which helped me overcome what used to paralyze my ADHD brain into inaction, is make it exist first.

As the rhyme dreams stopped, my passion for writing continued. I learned that having a system, could help me stay organized and focused, while my writing philosophy helped to keep the creative spark alive.

Inspiration is everywhere

• It's not a new concept, but it's one I had to experience to understand. Ideas are everywhere. Maybe my kids say or do something silly, and I use that as an idea for a poem. Or maybe it's a joke I heard that seems like a good idea for a punchline of a poem. Maybe I read something that triggers an idea, or I'll see a cartoon character doing something that inspires my own idea for a character. Once I started to be receptive to new ideas, I started getting more often.

• I learned to be an "idea sponge". I wouldn't actively look for new poem ideas, but I found that ideas popped up often enough during the course of a week, that I collect more ideas than I can turn into poems.

• I tend to think of ideas in terms of "punchlines". That is, the ideas I usually pick up are usually the twist (unicorn is a fake, bubble bursts, animal is a rock, etc.)

Save every idea, big and small

• When I get an idea, I write it down. every time. sometimes it's just a joke punchline, or something funny my kids said. Other times it's a fully imagined story, like slow races.

• I keep two lists: an ideas list, and draft poems list, on my phone. everything goes into those two lists.

• I don't usually write a draft poem when I get an idea. I come back to the list regularly and when I'm feeling inspired or motivated, I'll write a draft from an idea.

• Even if the idea doesn't seem great when I write it down, I save it for later. There are times I'll revisit something years later that suddenly makes sense, and I feel inspired to write a draft.

• Don't throw anything away.

  
  

Drafts don't need to be good

• This is where the philosophy comes into play: a draft doesn't have to be good, i just need to make it exist.

• I'll pick a, idea, and write out the basic storyline.  then I'll go back and see if I can find rhyming end words for the last couple of lines, or how it feels to say the last couple of lines out loud. Usually from there, I can establish a rough rhyme scheme and meter, but if not, I'll leave it as a rough sketch and call it a day. If I have an idea for the illustration, I’ll sketch it on paper and take a picture, or I’ll sketch it on my iPad.  I’ll also type my illustration notes with the draft for reference later.

• Poems stay as drafts until I'm ready to polish them up, usually because I want to put them in a book. When I'm compiling the poems for collection for a book, I'm grabbing poems from my draft pile. If I feel like the book is missing something from the collection (like a particular rhyme scheme, theme, character type, etc.), I'll look for opportunities to rewrite one of my drafts to fill that gap, or ideas from my ideas list that perfectly align with what I want.

• There are some drafts that I may never use.  There are some that sit for years, and one day I’ll read them and the lightbulb goes off… I can suddenly see how the poem should be further developed and used.  Sometimes, I'll take the idea from a draft poem and completely rewrite it. But, I don't throw anything away.

As for how I stay productive:

I try to dedicate at least 10 minutes every day to creative writing or illustrating.  There are some days where I can dive right into the creative flow, spending an hour and getting a lot done.  Other times, that 10 minutes feels like a slog and nothing is connecting.   and that's OK. Most importantly, for me, is to create a routine and stick to it. It's also a bit of a snowball effect: when I'm writing a book, the further along the book gets, the more motivated I am to finish it. The more I see where I can add polish, tweaks, and revisions. It's easier to see the big picture, and all of the details, when you have something to look at first.

The most important thing I've learned is that my writing and illustrating doesn't need to be perfect. We all have to start somewhere. Just make it exist first, and it'll be much easier to keep going.