A Divided Brain

Writing is a creative activity and is right-brained. But it's also an editing activity and is left-brained. Writing requires use of both sides of the brain, but how do you utilize two opposing forces effectively? The right brain is the one that likes to play with words and ideas and free associate. It's a stream of consciousness type of thinking. This is the part of your brain that should have free rein to create your first drafts. You can engage this part of your brain through a number of techniques such as brainstorming, clustering, freewriting, etc. When writing your first drafts, you should keep your left brain at bay. Engaging this part of your brain in the drafting process runs the risk of never finishing your first draft. That's because the left brain is the critical part of your brain. It's the editor, the taskmaster, and it can stop creativity dead in its tracks. Only after you've completed your first draft should you get the left brain involved. After your right brain has depleted itself and spent its fancies, you can put your left brain to work to clean up the mess. This is the time to do all of the hard work of editing and rewriting and it is fully left brain work. Once the editor part of your brain has done its work, you can re-engage your right brain for some more creative rewriting. Again, at this point, you must turn your left brain off and let your creative juices flow. Alternating the two halves of your brain in this way can lead to better productivity and better results. Your brain may be divided, but the two halves can work together to make your writing whole.