Catch and Release: A Writing Technique
Weekly Lesson #4
The door’s open! Come on in, grab an iced coffee, pull up a chair, and let’s chat.
Word of the Week
Analogy : (noun) a comparison between two things as a tool for explaining a process or technique.
In this week’s newsletter, I’ll be using a fishing analogy to explain a part of my writing process.
Catch and Release: A Writing Technique
It’s summer, and I live in Michigan, so fishing is on my mind. Well, it’s really on my husband’s mind (he is an avid fisherman), but his enthusiasm for the sport is infectious!
There’s often an end goal in fishing: catch a fish in order to eat it. With catch and release, there is no end goal: it’s all about enjoying the process of casting out a line, reeling in the catch, and then releasing it back into the water.
I’ve been thinking about my own writing process—particularly the process of getting started and staying inspired—and I realize I employ my own type of “catch and release” with my thoughts when I write.
Casting out a wide net
Before I can begin catching ideas, I first need to cast out a wide net and clear out any weeds or debris. For me, this is the equivalent of taking out my laptop and typing furiously whatever is on my mind (my typing is loud and punctuated during this phase).
I tend to be a ruminator, so there are a lot of unhelpful thoughts floating in the sea of my mind. The blank computer page serves as a net and becomes filled quickly. If I don’t take at least ten minutes at the start of a writing session to capture this pollution and debris, I can’t see that exhilarating idea—that 28-inch trophy walleye.
Often, the thoughts I’ve caught in that net won’t be used for any polished pieces, but I save the contents, just in case. It’s more about the act of capturing any negative or unhelpful thoughts: it allows for clarity. Clearing out the debris creates a calmer sea in which to cast my line.
Fishing in a calmer sea
Once I’ve cleared the sea, I can catch and release ideas at my leisure, in an unhurried pace. When I’ve reeled in an idea, I take notes, a form of tagging the idea. Then, I release the idea back into the sea so it can continue to grow.
And every so often, I feel an intense tug on the line, a large idea demanding to be reeled in. These are the moments writers and fishermen live for—the anticipation of the unknown, of what’s just below the surface, ready to be revealed.
More often though, writing is an act of quiet solitude. The big ideas will come swimming along, demanding to be caught, but we must be patient. Perhaps most importantly, we must clear the waters and then cast out our lines every day.
Writing Activity
Think about your own writing process. You don’t have to be a “creative” writer to do this (I’d argue all writing is an act of creativity!).
How do you start? What inspires you? What halts you? How do you begin again? When the project you’re working on is “done,” how do you know? Spend 10 minutes freewriting about your own creative process. Understanding your own process can help you continue to write.
Bonus Challenge: I shared a fishing analogy as a way of explaining how I ignite my creative process. What analogy would you use to describe yours?
Love this Line
Its good to leave each day behind, like flowing water, free of sadness. Yesterday is gone and its tale told. Today new seeds are growing. ~Rumi
Literary Trivia
Did you know…
Ernest Hemingway spent many a summer fishing on Walloon Lake in the northern part of lower Michigan. His family owned a summer cottage there, not far from Lake Charlevoix where my family and I spend our summers.
Hemingway wrote several pieces, both fiction and nonfiction, about his passion for fishing. Hemingway on Fishing is a collection of his early stories and journal articles about the sport.
Exit Ticket
It’s summer! Where’s your favorite place to spend it? Also, in the comments, please share your favorite “beach reads.”
Great analogy! This feels so true for me, too!