Jeri Smith-Ready

Guest blogger Margie Lawson on Cognitive Style and the Editing Process

Hey everyone, today's guest is the amazing Margie Lawson, whose classes have helped me immeasurably with my craft. I've used her Deep Edits system and Empowering Character Emotions lessons at the final stage of my last three books, and I can't begin to express how great they are (the lessons, not the books--though if you think the books are great, Margie's system had a lot to do with it).

Today Margie helps us figure out whether we're right-, left, or whole-brained and how that affects our creative process. I took the quiz and scored a 9--whole-brained but leaning slightly to the left, which explains why I enjoy the rewrite stage more than the first draft "vomit" (my term, not Margie's).

Hold Your Editing Horses! Cognitive Style and the Editing Process

By Margie Lawson

Readers – Humor me. Read along and learn how writers stretch the hemispheres of their brains to make their writing stellar.

Now ---- picture riding a horse with no saddle. You’re leaning forward, riding bareback, moving with the horse, enjoying your wild ride.

HELLO Jeri’s blog readers who know me! You know I’m all about visceral responses. You know I love rhetorical devices too. Did you notice ANAPHORA in those last three sentences?

Multi-Cliché-Alert!

If you take the challenge, post it for all of us to applaud your talent. ;-)))

I also backloaded with the power words FRESH and TALENT.

Left-Brained writers usually love editing. Right-Brained writers usually have an aversion to editing. They’d rather head to the barn, grab a shovel, and muck out stalls that are knee-deep in horse poop.

It would have been easier to write: They’d rather muck out horse stalls.

BUT – ending with STALLS, seemed weak. Hence, my rewrite, resulting in a longer sentence, anchored with setting details, ending with POOP.

You can add Deep Editing power in a gazillion ways. Once learned, it doesn’t take long before you’re writing to deep editing, adding power while writing your first draft or in an early quick-fix pass. You automatically think about power-builders like backloading, cadence, balance, motivation reaction units, visceral responses, nonverbals, writing fresh, and endless possibilities for rhetorical power.

Right-brained writers love the creative freedom of writing new scenes. They’re happy, happy, happy in THE ZONE. It seems like the happier they are in the fresh writing zone, the more they struggle and get mired in the editing process.

OKAY – Not eons. But it was a good place to slip in another rhetorical device. Hyperbole. ;-)))

Are you wondering if you’re RIGHT-BRAINED, LEFT-BRAINED, OR WHOLE-BRAINED?

COGNITIVE STYLE QUIZ: Choose the one sentence that is more true.

1. 1
   
   1. A. It's fun to take risks.
   2. B. I have fun without taking risks.
2. 2
   
   1. A. I look for new ways to do old jobs.
   2. B. When one way works well, I don't change it.
3. 3
   
   1. A. I begin many jobs that I never finish.
   2. B. I finish a job before starting a new one.
4. 4
   
   1. A. I'm not very imaginative in my work.
   2. B. I use my imagination in everything I do.
5. 5
   
   1. A. I can analyze what is going to happen next.
   2. B. I can sense what is going to happen next.
6. 6
   
   1. A. I try to find the one best way to solve a problem.
   2. B. I try to find different answers to problems.
7. 7
   
   1. A. My thinking is like pictures going through my head.
   2. B. My thinking is like words going through my head.
8. 8
   
   1. A. I agree with new ideas before other people do.
   2. B. I question new ideas more than other people do.
9. 9
   
   1. A. Other people don't understand how I organize things.
   2. B. Other people think I organize well.
10. 10
    
    1. A. I have good self-discipline.
    2. B. I usually act on my feelings.
11. 11.
    
    1. A. I plan time for doing my work.
    2. B. I don't think about the time when I work.
12. 12
    
    1. A. With a hard decision, I choose what I know is right.
    2. B. With a hard decision, I choose what I feel is right.
13. 13
    
    1. A. I do easy things first, important things later.
    2. B. I do important things first, easy things later.
14. 14
    
    1. A. Sometimes in a new situation, I have too many ideas.
    2. B. Sometimes in a new situation, I don't have any ideas.
15. 15
    
    1. A. I have to have a lot of change and variety in my life.
    2. B. I have to have an orderly and well-planned life.
16. 16
    
    1. A. I know I'm right, because I have good reasons.
    2. B. I know I'm right, even without good reasons.
17. 17
    
    1. A. I spread my work evenly over the time I have.
    2. B. I prefer to do my work at the last minute.
18. 18
    
    1. A. I keep everything in a particular place.
    2. B. Where I keep things depends on what I'm doing.
19. 19
    
    1. A. I have to make my own plans.
    2. B. I can follow anyone's plans.
20. 20
    
    1. A. I am a very flexible and unpredictable person.
    2. B. I am a consistent and stable person.
21. 21
    
    1. A. With a new task, I want to find my own way to do it.
    2. B. With a new task, I want to be told the best way.

To Score: One point for each time you answered "A" for questions: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21

One point for each time you answered "B" for questions: 4 ,5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18

Add all points:

• 0-4 strong left brain
• 5-8 moderate left brain
• 9-13 whole brain
• 14-16 moderate right brain
• 17-21 strong right brain

What’s your process?

Do you edit in layers? Follow a plan?

How do you know when you’re finished editing so you can send your work on to a contest, an agent, or editor?

I look forward to your input. And – you could win a Lecture Packet!

YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO WIN A LECTURE PACKET:

Anyone who posts a comment has a chance to WIN one of my LECTURE PACKETS (a $20 value). I’ll draw one name from every 25 people who post a comment.

Winners select one of the following Lecture Packets:

1. Digging Deep into the EDITS System - offered on-line OCTOBER 13th, 2008
2. Empowering Characters' Emotions - offered on-line in March
3. Deep Editing: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More - offered on-line in May
4. Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors - offered on-line in May

LECTURE PACKETS for each course are available any time. They can be ordered through Paypal from my web site.

Please visit my web site, www.MargieLawson.com , and click on Lecture Packets, to read the course descriptions.

I will respond to comments as time allows during my work day. I’ll be on-line this evening (Mountain Time).

Thank you for visiting Jeri’s blog!

Labels: Contests, craft, guests

• posted by Jeri @ 8:40 AM
• 138 comments