by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

People often ask me about my writing process for a picture book (PB), including this question, which always trips me up: How do you go from an idea to a complete draft of a PB? I know the person asking is often looking for a strategy, but I never know how to simply describe my strategy in a clear way except to call it “gathering.” This article is my attempt to lay it out. Maybe, it will be useful to some writers out there. At the very least, I hope it will be entertaining.

Lots of PB creators simply dive in and draft. Theoretically, pantsing a PB of less than 1000 words is easy compared to a 50,000+ novel. Yet and still, it has a lot of the same pitfalls for writers like me: it leads to unfocused, meandering writing. For me, it means never getting to the end of the story and probably getting bored.
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Other authors outline. Hundreds of great PB templates exist on the internet. However, I’ve always found outlining a picture book painstaking. If I try to structure a new story idea, I experience a lot of creative blocks and can’t figure out how to move forward. I need some messiness to generate ideas.

Because the two methods above don’t work for me, I gather. Another way to explain my process is intensive brainstorming–it’s days of brainstorming–and gathering or collecting my notes from that brainstorming.
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To show what I mean by this, I found old notebooks where I gathered brainstorms for Your Name is a Song and took pictures.

Did I mention I struggle with organization?

Through looking back at these old scribblings, I was able to figure out just what I am doing during my process, and I’m proud to say I did organize that process here!

I started out knowing that I wanted to write a book called, Your Name is a Song, but had no idea what the story was about. That title came to me as I was reflecting on a child’s beautiful name, and I decided to write a story that could fit that title.
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These are some pages from an almost five-page free write I did to get ideas. Free writing  means quickly writing all of your ideas during a set time period without stopping to edit those thoughts. I find writing without self-censoring a therapeutic way to start a book. It took me at least two free writing periods to have a clear direction for Your Name is a Song.

Once I pinned down that Your Name is a Song would feature many names from multiple cultures, I was constantly making random name lists.

In addition to important words, or in this case names, I will write sentences, phrases, and major ideas I want to put in any book. I don’t necessarily know how or where these will fit in the narrative but I jot them down. Here, I was focusing on language around made-up names.

Finding old notes to myself made this dig into old notebooks pretty special. I, like many authors, often doubt myself while writing a book. I write myself encouraging notes when I’m having those moments. I think they’re an important part of the process.
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I hesitated to share the note I found in the middle of my brainstorming. It makes me blush. The language is so lofty, and it talks about my work as genius . However, when I’m having a moment when I don’t feel good enough to write something, I need a note to lean into grandiosity. (And authors, if the note is helpful to you in your own writing, please use it!)

My questions are interspersed throughout my brainstorming pieces. They are in my freewrites. They are in places where I wrote about scenes. An important question to ask yourself again and again throughout this pre-writing process is “why?”

I write quick and short versions of scenes. From this photo, you can see just how short sometimes. The important thing at this stage is not that I’ve written a long detailed complete scene but that I have a clear idea in my head of the complete scene.

After gathering ideas, words, and scenes, I have a good sense of my picture book. I know where it’s going and what it needs to do. I know and love my characters. And I am DYING to finally write the thing. When I have to write the story, I know my idea gathering is done.

Creativity helps to support our mental health and well-being by allowing for a connection to self-expression. Modern research suggests mindfulness-based meditation practices can help us contact creative flow by:

• allowing for purposeful, attentive mind-wandering
• enhancing focus
• reducing judgement and fear
• encouraging open thinking patterns (Henriksen et al 2020)

Age-old yoga and mindfulness philosophies have always reminded us that when we intentionally pay attention to present moment experience with kind curiosity and care, we create the space to connect with our innate strengths, including creativity.  When we can bring a caring, mindful presence to whatever it is we are doing, we naturally create the conditions necessary for creative intelligence to flow through us.

Looking for a quick creative boost in the middle of your day? Consider trying this mindfulness meditation practice known as the Sky of Awareness. Invite a fresh perspective, and explore what arises.  Enjoy:

1. Taking a few moments to settle into a comfortable seated posture, eyes closed or gazing gently to the floor, allow attention to rest softly upon watching the breath just as it is.  You could also choose to gather attention around an intentional word, mantra, or short prayer as a grounding anchor.
2. Using your anchor for support, invite attention to broaden, imagining the mind as wide and expansive as the Sky.  Opening attention up to include sounds, allow their pitches and tones to come and go in this vast Sky of Awareness.
3. Also held in this Sky are sensations within the body. These too, like sounds, have the quality of arising and falling away.  Returning to your anchor as you need, explore the quality of bodily sensations available right now in the company of sounds, just letting it all be.
4. You may have already noticed that the broad Sky of Awareness also holds space for thoughts, mental images, and emotions.  They shift and change like varying weather patterns within this expansive Sky.  Instead of ignoring them or pushing them aside, see if it is possible to allow them to come, linger, and move on, along with sounds and sensations.  Allow for the unfolding of life just as it is, remembering your anchor is always available to return to whenever you need it.
5. Once you are feeling ready, gather attention back to the breath, or whatever supportive anchor you have been using. Notice the quality of your presence and rest here for a few more moments. Invite a sense of gratitude to yourself for exploring this vast Sky of Awareness within. Thank you.
   

by Rashmi Bismark, MD, MPH, Mindfulness educator and author of Finding Om