Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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A Wandering Mind: Fresh Air for the Brain

4 Comments

Last Thursday, I went on a field trip with my third grader. All parents, teachers, and students rode the bus, except me. I was worried I wouldn’t be back in time for my fourth and fifth-grade book club, so decided to drive alone.

It was a two-hour drive to Acadian Village in Lafayette, Louisiana. I’d just read Rachelle Gardner’s post on unstructured time to let your mind wander, so I thought I’d give it a try.

You can’t force your mind to wander, but you can intentionally build in wandering time. Driving without music, news, a book on CD, or voices in the back seat was like fresh air for the brain. Silly, I know, but true.
I’ve always prided myself in using time wisely, but I’ve realized in my effort to do so, I’ve cut out time where my mind can creatively wander. Building time in for nothing specific can feed my writing in a way focus thought can’t.

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Filed Under: this and that

Comments

  1. Tamika: says

    October 12, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    I read that post, and while I don’t have too much alone time, it is worth trying to incorporate.

    I am headed to a Parent/Teacher conference, and I will ride without the radio or talking on cellphone.

    It could be good to just ride…

    Reply
  2. Natalie says

    October 12, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    My creative wandering time tends to be just after I wake up and just before I go to sleep. It’s rarely quiet any other time 🙂 I used to love doing manual labor type jobs because I could just think about my own stuff all day.

    Reply
  3. PJ Hoover says

    October 12, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    I love this! It’s perfect. Giving our minds the quiet time they need to come up with the creative ideas!

    Reply
  4. CKHB says

    October 13, 2009 at 12:39 am

    Hee. I was staring into space just last night, kinda zoning, and my husband asked me if I wasn’t going to DO something… and I remembered. I *am* doing something! It was good.

    Reply

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