How Handwriting Trains the Brain

Wall Street Journal article on how handwriting can train the brain.

Using advanced tools such as magnetic resonance imaging, researchers are finding that writing by hand is more than just a way to communicate. The practice helps with learning letters and shapes, can improve idea composition and expression, and may aid fine motor-skill development.

It's not just children who benefit. Adults studying new symbols, such as Chinese characters, might enhance recognition by writing the characters by hand, researchers say. Some physicians say handwriting could be a good cognitive exercise for baby boomers working to keep their minds sharp as they age.

The Guardian "Ten Rules for Writing Fiction: Geoff Dyer

Geoff Dyer

1 Never worry about the commercial possibilities of a project. That stuff is for agents and editors to fret over – or not. Conversation with my American publisher. Me: "I'm writing a book so boring, of such limited commercial appeal, that if you publish it, it will probably cost you your job." Publisher: "That's exactly what makes me want to stay in my job."

2 Don't write in public places. In the early 1990s I went to live in Paris. The usual writerly reasons: back then, if you were caught writing in a pub in England, you could get your head kicked in, whereas in Paris, dans les cafés . . . Since then I've developed an aversion to writing in public. I now think it should be done only in private, like any other lavatorial activity.

3 Don't be one of those writers who sentence themselves to a lifetime of sucking up to Nabokov.

4 If you use a computer, constantly refine and expand your autocorrect settings. The only reason I stay loyal to my piece-of-shit computer is that I have invested so much ingenuity into building one of the great auto­correct files in literary history. Perfectly formed and spelt words emerge from a few brief keystrokes: "Niet" becomes "Nietzsche", "phoy" becomes "photography" and so on. Genius!

5 Keep a diary. The biggest regret of my writing life is that I have never kept a journal or a diary.

6 Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire.

7 Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something.

8 Beware of clichés. Not just the clichés that Martin Amis is at war with. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.

9 Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it.

10 Never ride a bike with the brakes on. If something is proving too difficult, give up and do something else. Try to live without resort to per­severance. But writing is all about perseverance. You've got to stick at it. In my 30s I used to go to the gym even though I hated it. The purpose of going to the gym was to postpone the day when I would stop going. That's what writing is to me: a way of postponing the day when I won't do it any more, the day when I will sink into a depression so profound it will be indistinguishable from perfect bliss.




[ Excerpts from The Guardian "Ten Rules for Writing Fiction" | Part I | Part II ]

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Haruki Murakami's Routine

I haven't been doing this for a while. But recently things have finally started to resume a sort of normality. I found some time to write a little. My recent London trip gave me some ideas. I'm not sure where I'm going with them, so I'm just writing to get the words out. It's therapeutic in its own way.

For writing tips, I offer: Daily Routines - how Haruki Murakami goes about his day:

When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 am and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for 10km or swim for 1500m (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at 9:00 pm. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. But to hold to such repetition for so long — six months to a year — requires a good amount of mental and physical strength. In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.

- excerpt from The Paris Review, Summer 2004

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Reading Mrs Craddock

I can't wait for things to settle down soon. Hopefully that will mean some breathing space to actually get words down on the page. Or am I just making excuses for myself? I could probably write more if I can just stay off the internet, off Facebook.

I decided I do have time to go to the library this week. On a whim I just decided I need to read Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves. I have been meaning to read her books for years. The reviewers always praise her language, her distinct voice.

I've also finally picked up A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, a book I have read about several years ago, but never found the time.

Most of all, I was seized with the need to read Mrs Craddock. For research, I tell myself. Mrs Craddock is Maugham's story of unequal love in a marriage.

How often do we fall in love - and realise the other party do not love us the way we would like them to?

'FESS UP FRIDAY | What Do the Characters Want?

Michelle Paradise wrote, produced and starred in the Logo TV series, "Exes & Ohs". She has a series of video blogs centered around the series, and recently she talked about the writing process behind "Exes & Ohs".

One of the things she talked about was figuring out, "What do the characters want?" - either personally or professionally - and how they go about achieving that. Once you have that figured out, the story falls into place.

Which is sort of my problem right now.

I don't actually know what my characters want. In fact, right now the two lead characters are at a crossroad romantically and professionally. I don't quite know how to proceed.

Yeah, this 'Fess Up is LATE.

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Work the Heat

I've finally finished reading Kitchen Confidential - which is fun for research, especially the chapter where Bourdain writes about one day in the life of an executive chef. It's practically a walk-through for me.

Now the real test is whether I can write a scene of a restaurant kitchen on full service convincingly. The chaos, the adrenaline, the heat and camaraderie and feuding between line cooks, their runners and all the while telling a story about these characters, their relationship with each other.

Why is writing this scene important? I ask myself. Because it sets my sous-chef in her natural environment. Here is a well-brought up young woman, educated - something of an artist and a thinker. She enjoys all the advantages of her upbringing, yet something made her choose to work as a chef.

I'm using this story as a way of thinking through one of those questions I like to think about: what leads us to the choices in our lives? When everything in our life points in one direction, there are some of us who would choose another.

But first - how to write the scene? I need to think this through.

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Random Anecdote

In lieu of an actual 'Fess Up, I offer something tangential - which is the way I function, really.

Several years back I was at the supermarket with my friend, Ana. A couple of us arranged for a movie marathon at her place and we swung by the supermarket for provisions. We were paying at the cashier, when Ana, looking through our purchases, expressed her surprise that I did not pick up any snacks for myself.

"Don't you eat?" she exclaimed, totally baffled.

"I eat," I replied.

"Just three square meals? No snacks? No junk food? Are you on some kind of diet? Are you anorexic?"

"I do eat."

"Do you know in all the time I've known you, I have never seen you eat, ever?"

"I eat," I insisted.

This minor episode found its way into my story about existential rock-star vampires. One of the character, Seth, would remark to a mysterious woman in leather jacket and sunglasses, that he has never seen her eat. Ever.

The mysterious woman in the leather jacket and sunglasses, who goes by the name, Noir, would reply matter of factly, "I eat."

Later in story, Seth and his friends would be attacked by two goth-punks infected by vampiric blood. Noir would tear through the throats of those goth-punks, and she would feed on their blood. Right before she collapses from her injuries, she would turn to Seth, and she would say to him:

"Told you I eat."

Which says something about how all the little things in our lives are fodder for fiction.

By the way, I did not work on my story about the sous-chef this week. Instead, I revisited one of my old stories, the one about the existential vampires (with the awful working title: "Orpheus Sings the Guitar Electric". Now you know the source behind the name of this blog)

I was in a morose state of mind the whole week, which is exactly the state of mind that would want to write a story about angsty vampires who also happen to be rock-gods. Since we are throwing in random information: the Dark Orpheus is actually a prized guitar used by one of the characters in the story.

Which might also tell you something.

'FESS UP FRIDAY | On Characters

I missed last week's 'Fess Up, and I'm late on this week's entry. But I want to do something vaguely 'Fess Up because if I miss two weeks, then it's easy to miss three weeks, then four weeks, until I stop doing it altogether.

Firstly, no word-count this week because I was too busy with work and meeting up with people. I read only a little, but The Making of a Chef is exactly the book I needed for researching one of my main characters. So, it's slow progress in the right direction. :)

I end with this little quote on writing your characters:

Frederick Buchner wrote:

You avoid forcing your characters to march too steadily to the drumbeat of your artistic purpose. You leave some measure of real freedom for your characters to be themselves. And if minor characters show an inclination to become major characters, as they're apt to do, you at least give them a shot at it, because in the world of fiction it may take many pages before you find out who the major characters really are, just as in the real world it may take you many years to find out that the stranger you talked to once for half an hour in the railroad station may have done more to point you to where your true homeland lies than your priest or your best friend or even your psychiatrist.

~ Quoted in Bird by Bird

This rings so true, because right now, one of my supporting character is threatening to dominate the narrative. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I guess I'm not really in the driver's seat here.

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Progress

I actually managed to bang out a few words this week. There is some forward motion on the story. I'm finally getting to the bit of the story where we meet Charlie's sister—the reason why Charlie and her father are no longer on speaking terms.

I didn't know quite how to handle the story behind Charlie's sister. The sister is a late addition to the story. At one point I thought she would be alive. Later I decided she would be dead but influencing the characters as a ghost (I have a gothic sensibility). I changed my mind once more – decided I wanted to try something more realistic. So now she's just dead. Her story will be told through Charlie's memory. This means flashbacks.

For a last minute addition, this character has quite a few changes.

Does anyone wonder how characters really come about? Do we write them, or have they actually been sitting in the dark recesses of our imagination for a long time – until the day we finally set words on the page, and they manifest themselves?

I haven't planned on creating Charlie's sister—but now her coming into the story adds a new theme of family.

I've been re-reading parts of Laurie R. King's With Child, to study how she weaved the intermittent flashbacks so seamlessly into her narrative. It is a joy anyway to re-read any Laurie R. King novels.

It's also amazing how you have been reading novels for so many years of your life, but it isn't until you sit down to try to write one—that you really start paying attention to how things are structured.

I wrote a fair amount of personal "essays" this week. But re-reading them, they feel more suited as journal entries. This is the real reason I write - not because I want to be published, but because putting things down in words sometimes help me sort out my thoughts.

Still reading Bird by Bird slowly.

Practiced yoga 3 times this week. I attended two Hotflow classes and practiced a bit of the Shadow Yoga poses in the morning, with some core-work.

I am so out of shape.

From Scientific American, research has shown a link between writing (and by extension blogging) and improved memory, better sleep, bettero immune cell activity and even faster healing after surgery (damn, I should have been writing instead of reading so much) [via Yogamum ]

Flaherty, who studies conditions such as hypergraphia (an uncontrollable urge to write) and writer’s block, also looks to disease models to explain the drive behind this mode of communication. For example, people with mania often talk too much. “We believe something in the brain’s limbic system is boosting their desire to communicate,” Flaherty explains. Located mainly in the midbrain, the limbic system controls our drives, whether they are related to food, sex, appetite, or problem solving. “You know that drives are involved [in blogging] because a lot of people do it compulsively,” Flaherty notes. Also, blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.

LAMOTT | "The act of writing turns out to be its own reward"

But I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do—the actual act of writing—turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.

~ Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Sounds like yoga to me.

'FESSED UP FRIDAY | Don't Break the Chain

Recently, I crawled out of the rock where I live and stumbled on Lifehacker.

Since I discover it, I have been going back for more tips on how to organise my computer and maybe even my life. But one of the most interesting and relevant tip I found this week is the little friendly advice Jerry Seinfeld offered on how to motivate yourself to write everyday. He used the technique on himself, and it seems to work for him, so I'm going to post it here:

He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to write. Here's how it works.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis.

It works because it isn't the one-shot pushes that get us where we want to go, it is the consistent daily action that builds extraordinary outcomes. You may have heard "inch by inch anything's a cinch." Inch by inch does work if you can move an inch every day.

Daily action builds habits. It gives you practice and will make you an expert in a short time. If you don't break the chain, you'll start to spot opportunities you otherwise wouldn't. Small improvements accumulate into large improvements rapidly because daily action provides "compounding interest."

Skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next.

I've often said I'd rather have someone who will take action—even if small—every day as opposed to someone who swings hard once or twice a week. Seinfeld understands that daily action yields greater benefits than sitting down and trying to knock out 1000 jokes in one day. [ Source ]

This is a technique that actually works. I realise I have been using this method to track my yoga practice.

I have a moleskine diary that I use to keep track of my appointments. I also record the details of my yoga classes inside, so if I went for class today, I will note down, for example: 7pm, Power I, Michelle.

Since I open the diary everyday, at a glance I can see how frequently I practice every week. This has helped me maintain a 5~6 times a week practice for the past year.

It works.

______________________________________________________________

Report on things done last week:

1. Finished reading Comfort Me With Apples. I love how Ruth Reichl can relate food and life experiences so seamlessly. One of the best thing she wrote in the book was that writing about food alone is boring - it is everything else around that makes it interesting.
2. Followed someone's advice and started reading Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird.

______________________________________________________________

The Literate Kitten's link to all 'Fess Up Friday-ers. Or FUFers.

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Back to Square One

One of the most difficult piece of writig I had to do last Saturday was my resume. I'm not totally satisfied with it. But I've submitted it, and it's done. Now we just wait.

What is a resume? It's really your sell-sheet/press release, where you are marketing yourself to potential buyers (employers).

My problem is: I'm the sort of person who hates having to explain myself. That makes it difficult in situations where elaboration is necessary - like writing a story.

For the past few weeks I was trying to write a scene between the two main characters. I'm trying to fleshing out the relationship - and power dynamics - between them in that single scene. I keep adding to the scene, because so much seems necessary and yet not enough is being said. Or am I trying to do too much in one scene, when I have an entire novel to work with?

*sigh*

I regret to report I have scrapped all that I had written. (Okay, I saved the Word file - just in case)

Word-count as of today is ZERO. Yes, we are back to Square One.

Wait, that's not true. There was something I salvaged: a single line from one of the character:

"I'm not the kind of girl you can hide from your mother."

I'm not sure what to make of it. It seems to say something about the character. I'm keeping it for now.

As for research:

1. Read The New Yorker's profile of Grant Achatz (He's chef of Alinea in Chicago. The guy has worked with some of the best culinary masters - Charlie Trotter, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria)
2. Finished reading Tender at the Bone. Loved it!

3. Picked up the following books from the library:
   a) The Apprentice by Jacques Pepin,
   b) Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman,
   c) White Slave - the autobiography of Marco Pierre White.

   White is the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. He is also known as "The Man Who Made Gordon Ramsay Cry", and the first "Rock Star Chef". I adore these bad-boy chefs. Which may explain why my sous-chef is not a saint either.

4. Started reading Kitchen Confidential and Making of a Chef.

   I'm enjoying Anthony Bourdain, even if he's mean to vegetarians. I can afford to be forgiving; I have high self-esteem. Also I like how he makes chefs feel like pirates. In fact, while reading Kitchen Confidential, I started writing a scene in my head of a bunch of line cooks just squatting outside the restaurant trading barbed banters.

   Making of a Chef, I'm still reading the first few pages - still too early to form an opinion.

________________________________________________________

PS: The Literate Kitten's link to all 'Fess Up Friday-ers. Or FUFers.

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Procrastination

I made a simple button for 'Fess Up Friday last week. The type-writer seemed a tad bit anachronistic, so I found this picture instead where Snoopy upgraded to a laptop. It even has Woodstock sitting there as a supportive audience.

I made the button when I was supposed to be writing. Procrastination is a powerful thing: I get so many (other) things done - my bookshelves are finally dusted and my laundry gets done. If I procrastinate enough, I can take over the world.

This week, word count remains around 1,800. No actual writing was done. *sigh* I hope for better progress next week.

What did get done:

1. Drew up a research reading list
2. Put The Apprentice and Making of a Chef on hold at the local library. I hope to pick them up this weekend
3. Read blogs by farmers: Grow Better Veggies and I Love Farms
4. Finally named all my main characters.
5. Set aside a notebook for all my note-taking for the story
6. Reading Tender at the Bones
7. While drinking soup, suddenly thought of turning two of the characters into ghosts - so that it becomes a fantasy piece instead. I'm keeping it as Plan B though.

Can I add: "Going back for yoga class" into the list of things done? Yoga - er - grounds me. Improves focus, and er - makes me happy so I feel more productive?

Food and Love and My Usual Ramblings

We have a long weekend this week with Monday (19th May) being Vesak Day - a public holiday. I was supposed to spend the time reading and writing. Alas, I spend a good deal of it watching Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen instead. I'll put it down as research, since one of my main character is a sous chef.

What do I know about being a sous chef in a fancy restaurant? Very little, unless you count my part-time stint as a clerk in a French restaurant from 9 years ago. (It was a fun job, actually - brought to an abrupt end when the owners got into a dispute with the landlord over the rent and the restaurant was forced to shut down.)

I'm reading Ruth Reichl's Tender at the Bone right now. I've been the buyer for our Lifestyle section for the past few years, and while I do not claim to be an expert, I will admit to a growing interest in the area - especially for food writings. I read M.F.K Fisher's The Art of Eating last year. It was interesting, and it made me want to explore further the emotional relationship we have to food.

One of the erronous assumption people make is that because I am vegetarian, I am indifferent to food. In fact, I believe the opposite is true. It was when I became vegetarian that I started really paying attention to what I eat. I become more conscious of my meals: the ingredients, the taste, the texture, how they are prepared. It's not just about avoiding the meat - you also have to make sure you have a balanced diet that keeps you healthy. When I am not eating right, I can feel the difference in my body.

I am also curious about the the preparation of a meal - because it is one of the most intimidate and personal food experiences. Since I turned vegetarian, I find myself having to cook more. I am still not very good at it, but I try.

A friend once told us this story, of how her sister was in Korea, and she sought out this old lady who was renowned for her kimchi. When she asked the old lady about how to make good kimchi, the old lady replied: You have to season each cabbage leaf individually. As you massage the seasoning into the cabbage leaves one by one, imagine your family happily enjoying the kimchi you made for them.

Her method of preparing kimchi is a lot of work. Most of us just pick up a pack of kimchi from the supermarket instead; it's easier, so why bother, right?

I am not an expert here, but I think there is something to what the old lady is telling us. Just imagine if we can put that much love and mindfulness into preparing a meal, it would be something extraordinary indeed.

I was also looking through my old magazines over the weekend. I found the Yoga + Joyful Living article that spurred me to want to write this story about a farmer and a chef. (Right now the story stinks like ripe blue cheese. You see why I would be embarrassed to have people I know learn about this? :p)

It's a small feature on Deborah Madison, whom I know as the author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. What surprised me was that in her younger days, Madison practiced at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Centre, where she served as inaugural chef of Greens restaurant, as well as its head monk.

Asked what anchors her, Madison says without hesitation, "Sitting. Zazen." She pause and adds, "And my garden. It's literally grounding. When you grow your own food, it's clear what's for dinner."

It's as simple as that. A short article in a yoga magazine, about a woman who believes in growing your own food for dinner, because it anchors her. It just struck me - there is a love story here (or it's probably just my brain at work.)

And just in case anyone is interested, I drew up a reading list yesterday. For research purposes, of course. :)

• Gardening at the Dragon's Gate, Wendy Johnson
• Heat, Bill Buford
• The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters
• Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, Thomas McNamee
• The Soul of a Chef, Michael Ruhlman
• The Reach of a Chef, Michael Ruhlman
• The Devil in the Kitchen, Marco Pierre White
• On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee
• Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain

'FESS UP FRIDAY | Some Gaimanesque Tips

Some of my friends in the real life (as opposed to this virtual blogsphere) actually know about this blog. But I think only 3 of them ever post comments on this blog. So, I'm always a little surprised sometimes, when they talked to me face to face, text message me on my phone or email me -- about something I posted here. In this blog.

"You mean you read my blog?" I would wonder.

Apparently, they do. Which means there are people out there - people who knows my face, my real name, my phone number, my address, my place of work - these people know I'm trying to write a novel.

This accountability thing is suddenly feeling a little stressful. But, here's some of the things I did this week that contribute to my writing:

1) There might be something to this 'Fess Up Friday - I actually managed about 1,800 words. It's not a lot and there are many awkward bits I need to re-write, but I'm leaving that for now. Just trying to get words on the page.

2) This week I spent some time reading Neil Gaiman's blog - which incidentally has some good advice by the man himself on writing. Here's some Gaimanesque Writing Tips:

Neil Gaiman, offering his opinion on actually getting your first draft written:

As for thinking time versus writing time, well, that's up to you. But -- and I wish it were otherwise -- books don't get written by thinking about them, they get written by writing them. And that's when you make discoveries about what you're writing. That's when you get the happy accidents.

So think all you like, but don't mistake the thinking for the writing.

Neil Gaiman's advice, on working on your drafts:

The second draft is where the fun is. In a first draft, you get to explode. The objective (at least for me) is to get it down on paper, somehow. Battle through the laziness and the not-enough-time and the this-is-rubbish and everything else, and just get it written. Whatever it takes. The second draft is where you go and gather together the fragments of the explosion and figure out what it is you did, and make it look like that was what you always meant to do.

So you write it. Then you put it aside. Not for months, but perhaps for a week or so. Even a few days. Do other things. Then set aside some uninterrupted time to read, and pull it out, and pretend you have never read it before -- clear it out of your head, and sit and read it. (I'd suggest you do this on a print-out, so you can scribble on it as you go. )

When you get to the end you should have a much better idea of what it was about than you did when you started. (I knew The Graveyard Book would be about a boy who lived in a graveyard when I started it. I didn't know that it would be about how we make our families, though: that's a theme that made itself apparent while the book was being written.)

And then, on the second and subsequent drafts, you do four things. 1) You fix the things that didn't work as best you can (if you don't like the climactic Rock City scene in American Gods, trust me, the first draft was so much worse). 2) You reinforce the themes, whether they were there from the beginning or whether they grew like Topsy on the way. You take out the stuff that undercuts those themes. 3) You worry about the title. 4) At some point in the revision process you will probably need to remind yourself that you could keep polishing it infinitely, that perfection is not an attribute of humankind, and really, shouldn't you get on with the next thing now?

Sometimes I think I rather spend time planning a novel than writing it. It reminds me of Geoff Dyer's Out of Sheer Rage, a book where he writes about how he procrastinated on the task of writing a book on D.H. Lawrence.

Procrastination may be a sign of fear - you forestall the conclusion - so you never need to find out how you might have fallen short.

Like Gaiman says, "books don't get written by thinking about them, they get written by writing them". I have never had problem charging into something without a definite plan. So, why stop now?

Excuse me while I go write something.