Yesterday morning, I finally had the opportunity to test out my little theory on taking a hike to make headway in my writing. And I'm happy to say that as one of the commenters on the original post put it "Walking definitely helps."
Before I began my walk, I only had about a third of the story outlined for one of my two possible NaNoWriMo plots. By the end of the walk I had envisioned at least another third of the story line. In between, while walking along the White Oak Bayou trail with my dogs and fiancee, I had a wonderful time and soaked up some much needed vitamin D. I found that ideas for the story line came to me in snippets. An "ah-ha" spark would flash in my head, then my mind would wander off somewhere...back to the ongoing conversation...the on coming herd of bikers we had to get off the trail to avoid...why is my dog sniffing that. Then, another "ah-ha" spark would happen. All in all it was a very productive cycle without putting forth much effort. Like they say...work smarter, not harder.
After jotting down my ideas gleaned yesterday, I'm already looking forward to the next walking opportunity. Hopefully I'll have the plot finished after jaunt part deux.
So, have you had an opportunity to move forward through your WIP while strolling through your story line? Or have you used going for a walk to work through another genre of quandary?
Walking or doing dishes or brushing my teeth. I follow Isaac Newton: "By always thinking unto them. I keep the subject constantly before me and wait till the first dawnings open little by little into the full light."
I find it hard to walk these days without scenes popping into my head. I guess it's better than being blocked, but sometimes I have to just let it all slide and remember to be where I am.
Now I'm rewriting, rather than writing, it might be different, but then there's all those countless variations on one sentence that could play through my head.