This is a speech I give to every writing client I ever have.

Creative mind is totally, completely, absolutely (could I be any clearer?) different from editorial mind. I should probably repeat that. Creative mind is totally, completely, absolutely different from editorial mind.

Do you have this in your own experience?

I’m no brain surgeon, by any stretch, but I feel the sensations of thought in completely disparate places in my own physiognomy when I’m creating and when I’m editing.

I’ve found, over the years, that the best way to deal with this is to separate the processes entirely.

There are two reasons for this:

First, when you are creating, you’re flowing, you’re on a roll, you’re just hanging with your characters and letting them tell you who they want to become.

Second, if you switch into editorial mind, a.k.a. critical mind, because you don’t like a word you’ve chosen or you think some paragraphs ought to be moved around, you’re likely to lose the flow.

So, rule number one for me is: when I’m writing creatively, I stay there.

That means I know I’ve chosen some less than perfect words, that I’ll have to/get to go back and clean up syntax, bad habits, and what-not. It also means that I get the book written.

Write the story, dear writer. Write the story. Write the story. Write the story.

There are countless writers stuck in their first chapters because they want to get it right. You will. You will get it right, but not whilst you’re creating it.

There is no “right” in creation. There’s just choice and its consequence which you decide you like or you decide you don’t like and you get to choose again.

Stay in creative mind … write the story. Then, get organized.

First, reread the whole story. If you must, take notes on side pages, but whatever you do, DO NOT make corrections at this point. Not even spelling corrections. Just read.

I find the easiest way to do this is to read in the computer and take notes on paper. I’m only allowed to write on the paper.

Ask yourself some tough questions:

Are there outright mistakes in the book?

Are there characters you need to redraw?

Does the plot make sense?

Does the book add up?

Start with broad strokes, and over time, descend into the minutiae of word choice, and spelling, and syntax … in other words, editorial mind.

And understand this, dear one. You will miss things. Big things. Because it’s your story and your creative mind will be filling in the blanks no matter how hard your editorial mind is efforting.

This is what external editors are for.

Make no mistake, you need both aspects of your mind for writing—at separate times.

Next month … we’ll talk about the map that changed everything for me.

For spiritual nourishment, go to www.susancorso.com and follow me on Twitter @PeaceCorso.