Choreographing Writing

Often scholarly types get hung up at the outline. This link is to a very useful list of things to do to create a book to build a personal brand. I find this interesting because being identified as a scholars is and has always been beholden to personal branding. We had a corner on that market and never named it!

Go read this article. Full of useful ideas, the author, Roger Parker, makes a point to help you create your own process.

If you have ever struggled with getting your next piece of writing out there, remember to let go of the outline once it is done. "Save Time Turning Ideas Into Profitable, Brand-Building Books" is for people who never thought they could write a book, but have in fact generated hundreds of pages of worksheets and speeches. Our problem as academic-types is that we come through a culture of hazing bent on convincing us that our singular voice is possibly already wrong before it is heard! Rest assured, your topic would not have chosen you if you were wrong for it!

The process of obtaining approval and certification to then write makes it very hard to turn around and write! Once you get going, there is no one to give you permission anymore. So what is the tendency? To go back to the outline, rework it, remap the project and bug your advisor again to approve it. Of course, it will be hard to get their approval again, because they have moved on to the next task. A tepid response from an advisor about the next, greatest outline usually creates panic and generates a third outline...and less of a response from an advisor now fearing that you will never start to actually write. Your newly refined outline is not the problem, your need for closure is.

When I worked as a professor, I would assign art therapy projects for students who were particularly stuck in the need for approval. This article by Roger Park lists some of my favorite ways to choreograph your thoughts so that the graphos literally leaps out of you. The biggest idea? Get back on the floor; leave your computer alone. Use tactile devices to organize your thoughts, not lists and lists. Once you can feel it, see it and interact with it, you will hear your project's logic and serve it the resources it needs.

Silfredo La'O paints through dancing. His solo is literal choreographing, experimenting with traditional movement from Santería, itself, soul writing through dance.

Like a great solo, you will know when a move is not "true" to the momentum of the moment that preceded it. In order to get the solo to work, to garner belief in its reality, you became an expert in it by playing, poking, falling, failing, releasing, breaking it, beginning again and playing some more. You want the solo to convey its meaning and support you as a choreographer or dancer. What if you wrote from the same place?

What if you were clear that you were creating a personal brand? The thing about branding is that you have to get the stuff out there more quickly than we are accustomed to in scholarship. But what if you could get your writing project out there without looking for the next qualifying exam, certificate, scathing review? Do not let go of outlining, but switch instead to planning, to mapping. This subtle shift will help you get some gestural healing going so that your project can support your voice and you, its truth.

Anna B. Scott holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies, worked as a professor for almost ten years, makes dance theater, and writes on all types of topics.  If you are really stuck or under duress of a deadline, a writing coach maybe right for you. Contact the Dancing Oracle for support. Remember, it is your passion.