I am writing this now instead of working on my treatment of a next book. So I am procrastinating. Or at least this how it would appear. But consider that I am actually writing instead of writing so this is not what’s going on here at all.

Which begs the question, right? Maybe you’re not entirely dying to understand what’s going on inside my head but seeing how I use myself as a petri dish, running metacognitive analyses on how I write, part of this perhaps helps you understand how to write better too.

So, what is going on?

I am working on something complex. As most non-fiction writing, I need to find a way to make it simple without losing the essence of its meaning or the cohesion of its ontological structure. And it’s frying my brain. I know I will get to it. I just need to find the right semantic pathways that will enable me to express it correctly so it makes sense.

While my brain’s whirring away at the problem I still need something to write and, well, here we are. I am now explaining this piece of writing which is to say that I am also showing you part of the writing process you don’t get to see.

This is what I find: if I engage in an activity that is associated with the problem I am trying to solve but not directly involved with it I can usually find insights that help me arrive at the solution I am looking for, faster. Plus, by focusing on the mechanical as opposed the cognitive aspect of the problem (i.e. in this case, the fact that the words I need to explain the concepts I want in a simple yet powerful way, escape me) I tend to understand the way my brain works a little better and that somehow helps me get to the solution of the problem I am dealing with, easier.

So. Stuck in your writing? It’s not “writer’s block” (that’s a myth!). You just need to give your brain a different perspective by engaging in something similar that it can actually do. It then works things out in the background and presents you with the solution you were looking for.

The Sniper Mind: Eliminate Fear, Deal with Uncertainty, and Make Better Decisions