{"id":693,"date":"2021-01-14T20:10:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T20:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/?p=693"},"modified":"2021-01-14T20:11:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T20:11:49","slug":"which-hat-shall-i-wear-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/?p=693","title":{"rendered":"Which Hat Shall I Wear Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michelle Medlock Adams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 Last year, I had the privilege of speaking about being a writer at a large private school near Chicago. But before my talk, as an added bonus, I had lunch with a group of award-winning student authors ranging in age from 5 to 13. (These students had been chosen to represent their individual classroom as \u201cthe best of the best\u201d and read their work in front of the entire school.) So, while I chatted with these gifted wordsmiths in between bites of cheese pizza, I asked them: \u201cWhich was harder for you\u2014writing or editing your story?\u201d As I expected, all but one said the editing process had been way<\/em> harder. Then, the one who didn\u2019t jump on the editing bandwagon said something I\u2019ll never forget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She very honestly admitted, \u201cI had trouble with the writing process because I kept editing myself\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That comment sparked a very interesting conversation about hats and one of my favorite books about writing, \u201cDancing on the Head of a Pen: The Practice of a Writing Life\u201d by Robert Benson. In case you haven\u2019t read it, Benson shares about the different hats he wears when crafting his amazing books. He sports a stylish beret when creating story. As he writes his \u201csloppy copy,\u201d beret man is the guy in the chair. But once this first draft is safely recorded, he switches to his well-loved Yankees cap which he has lovingly named \u201cGamer\u201d. He wears \u201cGamer\u201d when editing. But Benson explains that bringing out \u201cGamer\u201d too soon in the process can totally halt the creativity of \u201cBeret man\u201d\u2014the artist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what had happened to the student who confessed she\u2019d really struggled with the writing process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou switched hats too soon,\u201d I told her, explaining Benson\u2019s theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you? Are you self-editing (and sometimes self-loathing) as you write and create children\u2019s stories? Are you constantly fixing grammar and spelling or rewriting sentences three and four times before continuing on? If so, I feel your pain. I occasionally stifle my own creativity because I can\u2019t get my baseball \u201cGamer\u201d cap off my head. It just won\u2019t budge! And no matter how hard I try, I can\u2019t create with \u201cGamer\u201d calling the shots! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you struggle with this premature switching of hats, here are three strategies you can implement to keep your beret safely in place as you create. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Write fast, really fast.<\/strong> Don\u2019t give yourself the chance to edit. Just get that story down on paper or in that computer, whatever your process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Switch gears, not hats.<\/strong> The moment you feel yourself slipping into the editing mode, switch gears completely. For example, if you\u2019re writing a picture book in narrative and you start to slip into editor mode, stop writing narrative and try writing your picture book in rhyme. That will get your creative juices flowing again and put your editor\u2019s cap back on the hat rack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Set the Mood with Music<\/strong>. This works well for me. If I\u2019m creating, I have on \u201cmood music\u201d that awakens the creative part of me. So, when I was writing my book, \u201cGet Your Spirit On! Devotions for Cheerleaders\u201d I listened to all of the cheer music compilations that my daughters competed to when they cheered. That music was motivating and put me in the right mindset to write about \u201call things cheerleading.\u201d But, when I am editing, I almost always listen to instrumental music. When the instrumental melodies fill my writing room, it instantly becomes my editing room. Maybe this tactic will work for you, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re like the little girl who struggled with knowing which hat to wear\u2014the beret or the Gamer\u2014I hope you\u2019ll try these three strategies. And I recommend you purchase your own copy of \u201cDancing on the Head of a Pen\u201d and glean from Benson\u2019s genius.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Medlock Adams  Last year, I had the privilege of speaking about being a writer at a large private school near Chicago. But before my talk, as an added bonus, I had lunch with a group of award-winning student authors ranging in age from 5 to 13. (These students had been chosen to represent their … Read More about Which Hat Shall I Wear Today<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,29],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","tag-workshop-leader","tag-writing","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/girl-5728569_1920-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/girl-5728569_1920-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"ariseesther","author_link":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ariseestherconference.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}