Managing Your Muse
Part 2
Mission Statements
In the same way a Vision Statement can benefit career
ambitions, a Mission Statement can help keep each project on track and in line
with your short and mid-range goals.
You know that moment when the kernel of an idea for a story
first arises? Whether it’s a character, a setting, a conflict; whatever it may
be, that first exciting inkling of “I could write a story about that!” That’s
when you begin your Mission Statement.
Jot it down! Don’t wait. Grab a piece of paper, your smart
phone, a napkin, whatever’s handy. Don’t lose it. These are the precious
nuggets of which great books are made. (Yes, there have been some not-so-great
books written too, but since you don’t know which yours will be yet, take no
chances—write it down.)
Unlike Vision Statements, your Mission Statement can be as
long as you need it to be. It doesn’t need to be typed. Mine are handwritten in
my journal and there are more projects there than I’ll ever be able to write in
my lifetime.
When I do school visits and the kids ask, “Where do you get your ideas?”
I tell them, “From my magic journal.”
Mission statements can be flexible and will adapt as your
story dictates. Which means, you don’t need to wait until you have all the plot
points worked out, the characters created, or any of those details to get
started. You can always update your mission statement.
What’s important to remember is, time changes everything and, if you don’t keep a record, these
ephemeral gems will vanish into the ether. I find it comforting to know what my
original intent was, even if I decide to change it later.
As important a function as recording your ideas is, the real
magic of a Mission Statement is that it engages your Reticular Activation
System (RAS). Your RAS is the way your brain organizes the myriad of
information bombarding you every minute of every day. Without it, we’d never be
able to concentrate on or accomplish anything. It sifts through the
ever-flowing river of data and draws our attention to what we’ve told it is
important enough to notice.
You’ve probably experienced it often. Two of the easiest
examples to cite are when you first buy a new car and then see the same color
and style all over roads, or you hear a word for the first time and then, soon
after, notice it popping up all over the place. This is your RAS doing its job
as efficiently as Google’s search engine.
When you take the time to write your Mission Statement, you
are telling your brain that this topic is important to you. You’ve given it
more weight and substance than a simple, “Yeah, that would be cool,” passing
thought can generate. Your brain responds by drawing your attention to relevant
resources. At times, it really feels like magic.
The following is not the only instance when I felt my RAS
kick into gear, but it is certainly the most memorable.
When I first began writing my mission statement for The Minstrel’s Tale, I knew it was going
to take place in medieval Europe. I knew Richard II would be involved, so I had
the time frame narrowed down and had just began my research. It was during this
time, before I had written the first word about Richard, when Dr. Brook Ballard
walked into my bookstore for the first time. Dr. Ballard was writing a book
too, and we began to talk about writing in general. During the course of our
conversation, I learned he was a retired professor. His specialty? English
Medieval History. Wow!
Of course, I begged him to become my historical advisor for The Minstrel’s Tale, and he agreed,
loading me up with source material and even reading through my drafts to make
certain I stayed true to the time period. His help and suggestions were
invaluable for me to write the books I wanted to write. To make them real
enough that readers could escape into my world without blatant historical
errors slapping them back to the present.
Would I have had this relationship with Dr. Ballard had I
not been clear in how I wanted my book to be? I don’t know, but somehow I don’t
think our initial conversation would have played out the same way if I hadn’t
been in the writing place I was at the time.
I think that was my RAS at work and I intend to keep it
employed by using Mission Statements for all of my projects.
I’d like to share my Mission Statement for this project, Managing Your Muse, so you can get an
idea of how to write one. As I’ve said, it’s not complicated or elaborate; in
fact, there’s nothing fancy about it at all. (I’ve typed this from my
un-edited, handwritten notes, so be gentle in your critique.)
Idea: from Poynter
podcast—Writing a Mission Statement for your book or story.
Mission statement…Ugh!
God I remember so many of those boring business meetings and struggling through
those god-awful mission statements. BUT, I learned a lot from all of that
corporate training AND I’ve applied a lot of it in my writing.
Things like using
spreadsheets, Powerpoint, Word, teambuilding, flow charts, scheduling, goal
setting. Jeesh, there’s a lot!
I’ll bet there are a
lot of people retiring from corporate jobs who are thinking of writing a book
and don’t know where to start. I could write a book about this. Probably about
twenty chapters or so. I think it would help a lot of struggling writers.
That was my initial Mission Statement. Days later, I
received an offer from a company who wanted to advertise on my blog. My blog! I
haven’t posted on it in months. So, I updated my Mission Statement.
Maybe I can kill a
couple of birds here. Maybe I can write it as a series of blog entries and then
later, perhaps publish those entries as a book. That way, I don’t have to take
too much time away from writing Pangaea, and can still get this done doing just
a chapter a week.
I know I really should
be using social media more often and keeping my blog up, but it’s just so
difficult to come up with good content when I really want to put all of my
creativity into Pangaea.
Even so, I think I can do this. I think it can help my
career, and help other writers, I love a win/win and it really won’t take too
much time away from Pangaea.
After thinking about it for a few more days, I updated it
again.
Managing Your Muse!
That’s the perfect title. Okay, I’ll do it, even though Pangaea is still my
first priority, I’ll commit to writing a
chapter each week and putting it on my blog.
Introduction-why I’m
writing this and what it’s about
Vision
Statement-career goals
Mission
Statement-project goals and RAS
Teambuilding-critique
groups, alpha and beta readers, editors etc.
Goal setting and
Scheduling
Flow Charts-plot
Spreadsheets-Characters
and plot points
Power Point-character
arc
There’s more, but that
should get me started and I’ll add as I go. Gotta leave room for RAS
discoveries!
The next time your muse whispers in your ear, write it down.
One of the first steps toward managing your muse is to make her feel important
enough, she continues to share her imaginings with you. When you think about
it, it’s the same common courtesy you would extend to anyone you respected.
Respect your muse!