Right vs. Left Brain: What Do You Think, Writers?

For the last few months, I have not been a happy writer. At least, not in that “joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” way. But I have been a busy writer and so I didn’t notice. Until the start of February, and as we say in the story-writing business…AND THEN SOMETHING HAPPENED. 

What happened was, I started writing the second book in my cozy mystery series. Suddenly, a smile replaced the scowl when I sat down at my laptop. My fingers flew across the keys and my thoughts laughed out loud! And in the midst of all this writing elation, somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain, a memory came to me. Coincidentally, a memory having to do with the brain. 

I recalled an article I’d written for WOW! Women-on-Writing: “Making Time for Right and Left Brain Writing.” In January, 2009, I was a very busy writer, sending out both fiction and non-fiction pieces and just beginning to delve into children’s writing. 

The gist of the article had to do with the theory about dominant brain hemispheres, right or left, and how as writers we can accommodate the logical, practical, analytical side vs. the creative, imaginative side. The bottom line is that, as writers, we’re going to need a modicum of mastery in many different skill sets from both the right and left sides of our brain to succeed. 

BUT—and here’s why my brain remembered this article as I was writing away these last few weeks—all work (left) and no play (right) makes Cathy an unhappy writer! I’d been spending all my time on the business end of my writing: managing the book cover, figuring out the formatting program, researching marketing. In the midst of dealing with all those details, my brain cried, “Enough!” I chucked the grind and sat down on February 1st to a new document titled: Ladies of SPI, Book II. 

I didn’t look at my notes or check an outline, all of which I’d worked on in the summer. I had a rough—very rough idea—of what this second book was about, but I needed to just write. I needed to let my brain take off into uncharted territory. In a word, I needed to have some fun! 

And oh my, y’all, it felt good to write a story! Birds sang, unicorns frolicked outside my office window! Balance had been restored in my writing world and in the last couple of days, I’ve actually taken my own advice from thirteen years ago: I’ve been making time for right and left brain writing stuff. 

Now, honestly, I’m not sure that the right vs. left brain dominance theory is legitimate. I don’t have time for researching all the updates on the subject. However, I did take a few tests, just like I did before, to see what results I’d get. 

I found a link to the spinning girl mentioned in the article (the link there is outdated) and at first, she spun clockwise; she started spinning counterclockwise within fifteen seconds. What? So I took another non-spinning visual test, and it came out slightly more left brain. In an answer-the-questions test, I came out right brain, though again, very slight differences. 

Much like all those years ago, I’m still a writer mostly in the middle: detailed-oriented with organizational skills as well as creative and artistic. And not only am I okay with that outcome but I’m also pretty sure there’s something of value there. To wit, as long as I can remember to make my whole brain happy, I’ll keep the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my (writing) heart! 

P.S. How about you, writer? If you tried the test(s), let me know how you fared, and what you think about right vs. left brain when it comes to writing!

~Cathy C. Hall