Hi Mer, First, thank you for your videos. I really enjoy them. I am a subscriber from Germany. I have a great interest in writing but have not really written since I was a teenager. I get story ideas from time to time, but after a while they cannot convince me. I am also a biologist, so you inspire me :D I feel like, I am so trained to do analytical writing now that it's difficult to switch to the creative side of my brain. I would be really interested in how you balance this. If like you said it's hard to switch from editing to drafting, this seems like even more of a leap :D I also cannot switch off the analytical part of the brain as I need to write scientific publications. I love my job. But I do miss writing as a hobby. Good luck with finishing your draft. I am cheering you on :)
This has been a decade-long struggle for me, and I’ve dealt with it differently at different times. In college I completely quit writing because the demands of the science degree were too much to keep my creativity open. Now that I have a job with regular working hours, I have a habit of switching off the science part of my brain in the early mornings and evenings to make space for the creative thinking. working in deep work chunks (1-3 hours of complete concentration) helps me to completely get back into fiction writing after a day at the lab. And I find that writing in the morning is the most helpful partly for this reason - I haven’t been thinking analytically all day, so my mind is more flexible to play with creative ideas. I try to really separate the two things and block out large chunks of the day for either one or the other. Since I enjoy both, this seems to work for me. I am working on writing a scientific manuscript at the moment, so it’s strange writing thousands of works of technical detail and then going home and writing action-adventure scenes!! I think it’s certainly possible to do both, but boundaries between them help. For a job, you are required to do it, so it takes priority. So for me it took diving into fiction with word count goals and serious deadlines to get myself to take it as seriously as the science part of my life. I hope you’re able to find a balance and write both! I related to your comment so much. Thank you for reaching out!! It’s so fun to hear from other biologists who also like to write ☺️
Wow, thank you so much for such an insightful response. I am in awe that you're writing a scientific manuscript and your fiction at the same time. You make me believe it's possible. Thank you and I will try your advice with dividing my day up like this. Maybe I just need to train that muscle again and give it the time it deserves 😊
Great progress! Most of my progress this year was more self evaluation on why I stopped writing, working on getting my self confidence back. Now that I've figured most of what went wrong I'm trying to get back into a system to get into writing again. Hope you reach your goal for December and have a well deserved break.😊
I spent several months this year doing the exact same thing, and for me, it was well worth it to figure it out and get back to doing what I loved. I wish you all the best as you’re getting back into writing 💗
Hi Mer,
First, thank you for your videos. I really enjoy them.
I am a subscriber from Germany. I have a great interest in writing but have not really written since I was a teenager. I get story ideas from time to time, but after a while they cannot convince me.
I am also a biologist, so you inspire me :D
I feel like, I am so trained to do analytical writing now that it's difficult to switch to the creative side of my brain. I would be really interested in how you balance this. If like you said it's hard to switch from editing to drafting, this seems like even more of a leap :D I also cannot switch off the analytical part of the brain as I need to write scientific publications. I love my job. But I do miss writing as a hobby.
Good luck with finishing your draft. I am cheering you on :)
This has been a decade-long struggle for me, and I’ve dealt with it differently at different times. In college I completely quit writing because the demands of the science degree were too much to keep my creativity open. Now that I have a job with regular working hours, I have a habit of switching off the science part of my brain in the early mornings and evenings to make space for the creative thinking. working in deep work chunks (1-3 hours of complete concentration) helps me to completely get back into fiction writing after a day at the lab. And I find that writing in the morning is the most helpful partly for this reason - I haven’t been thinking analytically all day, so my mind is more flexible to play with creative ideas. I try to really separate the two things and block out large chunks of the day for either one or the other. Since I enjoy both, this seems to work for me. I am working on writing a scientific manuscript at the moment, so it’s strange writing thousands of works of technical detail and then going home and writing action-adventure scenes!! I think it’s certainly possible to do both, but boundaries between them help. For a job, you are required to do it, so it takes priority. So for me it took diving into fiction with word count goals and serious deadlines to get myself to take it as seriously as the science part of my life. I hope you’re able to find a balance and write both! I related to your comment so much. Thank you for reaching out!! It’s so fun to hear from other biologists who also like to write ☺️
Wow, thank you so much for such an insightful response. I am in awe that you're writing a scientific manuscript and your fiction at the same time. You make me believe it's possible. Thank you and I will try your advice with dividing my day up like this. Maybe I just need to train that muscle again and give it the time it deserves 😊
Great progress! Most of my progress this year was more self evaluation on why I stopped writing, working on getting my self confidence back. Now that I've figured most of what went wrong I'm trying to get back into a system to get into writing again. Hope you reach your goal for December and have a well deserved break.😊
I spent several months this year doing the exact same thing, and for me, it was well worth it to figure it out and get back to doing what I loved. I wish you all the best as you’re getting back into writing 💗