A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in April confirmed that yoga and a form of meditation known as Kirtan Kriya improved brain functioning by increasing connectivity, improving memory, and decreasing mood aberration. See an excerpt where I discuss Kirtan Kriya in Fire Up Your Writing Brain below. Over the course of twelve […]
Want to keep your writing brain fired up and growing well into old age? Draw or paint an object, a landscape, a person, an abstract, or whatever captures your eyes or occurs to your creative instincts. A recent study reported in PLOS ONE: “How Art Changes Your Brain: Differential Effects of Visual Art Production and Cognitive […]
To become a better writer, here are 4 things you can to do bolster neuronal networks and thereby fire up your writing brain.
BRAINSTORM ON WHERE TO GO Now that you’ve been writing for 27 days, your brain is primed for a mega-brainstorming session. As you’ve been busy writing, your thinking brain focused on harboring and percolating that massive amount of new material you and your marvelous mind have created. Unlike any other time, your writing brain is […]
Wracking up high wordcounts on a daily basis requires an influx of energy and focus, two things meditation bolsters in your brain. In fact, meditation is fantastic for firing up your writing brain because it bridges the gap between observations—what we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch—and what we can dream, imagine, or create while […]
Meditation is a powerful tool for increasing your brain’s ability to imagine and create and function—because it creates a massive increase in bidirectional networking within your brain. It increases communication between your top (thinking centric) and bottom (feeling centric) brain and, quite literally, fires up your writing brain. Meditation also calms your brain and trains it to focus […]
If you’ve ever been around a litter of newborn puppies or kittens, you’ve likely observed that some are feisty and adventurous, some greedily suckle, some cower while others show dominance, and so on. Studies have found that such personality differences will still appear, even when animals are cloned (meaning that they are genetically identical). In […]
Gearing up for and writing a 50,000-word novel in one month, as those participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) attempt to do, may cause a riptide in your subconscious and lead to disruptive dreams, or even nightmares, particularly if you create unreasonable expectations and then pressure yourself to meet them, or punish yourself when […]
We can all be too serious when thinking about or describing our work, and pessimistic when assessing the probability that we’ll land a publisher. No wonder our brains sputter and grind to a halt! If you’re going to write 50,000 words in November, employing humor is an effective – and fun – way to fire up […]
It’s lovely that thousands upon thousands of people all over the world are participating in the National Novel Writing Month of November (popularly known as NaNoWriMo). It’s a brilliant concept that has obviously appealed to many aspiring writers, and I know many professional writers who use it to shame themselves into pursuing the creative work […]
Fire Up Your Writing Brain 