[Neurons] 2014 "Neurons" Meta Reflections #31

Mon Aug 11 08:34:57 EDT 2014

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections 2014 #31

August 11, 2014

Writing #2

MORE WRITING SECRETS 

           Is there an idea, feeling, experience, or story welling up to be
expressed?

           Do you have a book in you?

           Would you like to enter into the wild and wonderful world of
writing and leave your touch on others?

Then explore the adventure and pleasure of writing.  There is a structure to
writing, to prolific writing, and to masterful writing and with NLP and
Neuro-Semantics we have the tools for discovering it and making it ours.  In
the last post I overviewed the key Strategy and Stages in writing.  This
fits the basic principle in NLP that there's a structure to every
experience.    If the activity of writing has a structure, that strategy
involves including some of the critical states and belief frames necessary.
What I wrote about last week in Neurons was the five stages of writing.

1) Getting an Idea: Brainstorming and Creativity.

2) Free-writing: Getting the idea down on paper.

3) Revision: Straightening out the idea, Drafting.

4) Cleaning-up: Proof-seeing.

            5) Selling the Idea and Book: Finding a publisher.

The next question that I'm constantly asked is how have I been so prolific
in writing and what does a person need to do to become more prolific?  The
following is what I wrote many years ago in Anchor Point.

1) Spend Quality Time with your Idea

First, I have found that in the first stage of romancing an idea, it is the
depth and quality of the time alone with the idea that provides the richness
of thought for the writing.  This is where the focus or "genius" state
becomes so important.  When we "access our personal genius" state and
sequence things so that we can easily and elegantly step into a focus state
at will, we can then be all there with all of our resources available.  This
is being in the zone.  This is accessing the state of flow.  And when you
do, the world goes away, time goes away, even self goes away-and you
experience the fully engagement of the object of your attention.

As I write these days, I step into my "genius" writing state to be fully
present with whatever is capturing my attention. When I do, the writing just
flows.  On the occasions when it doesn't, I access another "genius"
state-that of romancing the idea.  I go back to the pre-writing stage where
I give myself permission to explore, reflect, study, research, talk, and
interview in order to have more depth and quality with the idea that I want
to give birth to.

What then happens is pretty magical.  With the experience of being with one
idea for a long period of time comes a depth and richness of awareness,
emotion, understanding, etc.  And out of that comes a multitude of new
connections, ideas, and creativity.  That's why I read one book at a time, I
read it from cover to cover, and if it's a high quality book, I'll meta-read
it the second time (that is, I read it for structural and process
information).  Further (and this will disappoint many people) I read in one
field at a time and one book at a time.  This may lasts from two months to
18 months.  This generally leads to a training manual, one or two books, and
dozens of articles.  I mine it for all it's worth!

2) Read One Book at a Time

To be a writer, and especially a prolific writer, you have to read.  Reading
is the pool we bath in every day, it is the spring we drink from, it is the
hot springs we relax in.  Reading keeps us fresh and alive.  Reading feeds
our thoughts as we live with the idea.

I read one book at a time in order to be more efficient and prolific.  In
doing so, I then don't contaminate what I'm reading with ideas and stories
from other books and then can't remember where I was reading something.  I
read one book at a time because I want to know the thinking, reasoning, and
feeling of the author and want to understand his or her perspective
honestly.  Reading one book at a time gives me that kind of clarity as it
supports comprehension and remembering where I read something, which of
course then helps with documentation.

3) Learn to do Mental Writing 

Efficiency relates also to working through the stages of writing, being
disciplined, keeping oneself in the best of states, staying balanced in
mind-and-body, staying aligned with one's visions and values, living
ecologically in terms of health, relationships, fun, etc.  I "write" a lot
when I'm out on a run or when I hike to the top of some of the Colorado
mountains.  I "write" them in my mind.  Often, I have returned from a
four-mile run and immediately sit down at the computer and zap out a four or
five page article in less than an hour.

4) Discipline your Writing for Efficiency

Part of the efficiency that leads to being prolific is the discipline of
writing every day.  Even when I'm involved in intensive all-day trainings, I
will still write for at least 30 minutes.  Even when I'm writing posts for
egroups (we have four primary egroups in Neuro-Semantics) , I usually keep
and file for later use or reference.  Similar to my commitment to run three
to four miles everyday, I write for at least an hour almost everyday.
Robert Dilts does this also as he writes every morning for an hour.

5) Set a Great Big Why for Writing

If you want to be prolific, then develop a great big reason to write.  I
have many.  I write to learn.  It's part of my learning strategy.  My belief
frame is that if I can put something into my words, then it's mine; I know
it.  And that will help me to remember it and to integrate it.  I write to
develop more clarity and succinctness in my communications and trainings.  I
write to influence others.  I write to create products that will continue
that influence beyond where I can go in person and beyond the years of my
own lifespan.   I write to create a positive legacy of NLP and
Neuro-Semantics.  I write because it's fun and because almost on a daily
basis I discover new things as I write.

I also write because I believe that I can and will write a best seller for
the New York list of best sellers.  I have every intention of achieving
that.  I also have every intention of becoming five percent better and more
skilled as a writer with every year and have set up a development plan to
facilitate that.  What is my goal in doing that?  To put NLP and
Neuro-Semantics on the map!

For being efficient and prolific, I schedule my writing.  I will write three
books this year (2004), I have three planned for 2005 already, and at this
moment, one scheduled for 2006.  In addition to that I have a schedule for
writing a dozen or two articles this year.  A writing schedule simply keeps
me focused and on target.  Oh yes, it took me four hours to write and proof
this article.

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

                Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

                Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

                1 970-523-7877 

                Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net

What is Neuro-Semantic NLP?

Neurons:  Get your free subscription to the weekly International \Post on
Neuro-Semantics by Dr. L. Michael Hall. Subscribe at:
wwww.neurosemantics.com 

    Solutions:  Sign up for the Neuro-Semantic Newsletter ---
<http://neurosemantics.com/newsletter> neurosemantics.com/newsletter. 

 This is a monthly newsletter for anyone new to Neuro-Semantics.  Femke
Stuut, Editor.

Coaching: For world-class Coach Training - The Meta-Coaching System:
www.meta-coaching.org and \
<http://www.metacoachfo/hich/a/hich/af31506/dbch/af31505/loch/f31506%20f3150
6/dbch/af31505/loch/f31506%20undation.org/hich/af31506/dbch/af31505/loch/f31
506/hich/af31506/dbch/af31505/loch/f31506> www.metacoachfoundation.org.
Meta-Coach Reflections sent every Wednesday to the group of Licensed
Meta-Coaches.

Self-Actualization: Neuro-Semantics launched the New Human Potential
Movement in 2007, for information about this, see
<http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org  

NSP --- Neuro-Semantic Publications: Order books from Neuro-Semantic
website,  <http://www.neurosemantics.com> www.neurosemantics.com  click on
Products and Services and then the Catalogue of books.  Order via paypal.  

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://eight.pairlist.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20140811/077c1dbd/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 81551 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://eight.pairlist.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20140811/077c1dbd/attachment-0001.png>