Mike's Notes
I discovered this superb, filmed interview with author J.K. Rowling about her writing process. It's worth watching how this talented individual consciously uses a creative process in her work.
Besides being in awe of her writing ability, I was also thinking about my creative process.
I'm a pattern thinker. That's visual thinking.
My creative process is similar to J.K. Rowling's, except I use images, relationships, 3D and 4D models, and patterns instead of words. I, too, have many ideas pouring out of my head like a firehose, just not in words.
I, too, keep a notebook beside my bed, so when I wake up at 2 a.m., I can write a word or draw a diagram.
I keep my drawings in A4 3-hole ring binders. There must be almost 100 binders now, and cartons of drawings are waiting to be filed away correctly. I use colour high-lighters a lot. Everything is colour-coded like this website.
I also have to use assistive technology to write. Every word on this website has been rewritten 30 to 40 times by me and corrected by Grammarly. I'm a slow writer; writing a page takes a whole day.
I find articles written by others I agree with and republish them on this engineering blog, expressing my thoughts in their words and adding a few notes to explain the connection.
I also have multiple kinds of synesthesia, which Wikipedia defines as " a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway."
It was the same when I was a sculptor, making docos, building sets, doing landscape projects, and everything else, where I didn't need to write words. Reading and talking are easy. I have given hundreds of talks, usually technical, at conferences and workshops, and been on TV, radio, press interviews, etc.
But I could never describe this process in words. Now I can. Watch J K Rowling describe it.
I also copied this post on my software engineering website so that people could understand how I work.
I am actively planning to produce more docos. To that end, I'm undergoing the mostly free professional development offered by the local Film Otago Southland (FOSS) to learn how to work better with others, including script writers, who are fantastic people who can do what I can't.
Resources
- https://www.jkrowling.com/on-writing/
- Part 1 (YouTube)
- Part 2 (YouTube)
- Part 3 (YouTube)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
- https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2025/02/the-creative-process-behind-pipi.html
- https://www.filmotagosouthland.com
J K Rowling on Writing
J.K. Rowling talks in depth for the first time about her writing
J.K. Rowling is often asked questions by fans and budding writers about her writing process: where she writes, how she writes, her inspiration and her research, how a book comes about, from the germ of an idea to the editing process and eventual publication.
Here for the first time, she responds to those questions, talking openly and in depth about her writing including Harry Potter, her other children’s books The Ickabog and The Christmas Pig, as well as writing as Robert Galbraith, the Cormoran Strike crime fiction series.
Filmed in her writing room in Edinburgh and in a London pub, these three On Writing films provide a personal insight into J.K. Rowling’s writing world.
