Sometimes you need something obvious to be said in a different way.

I recently finished reading Wired for Story by Lisa Cron, I highly recommend it and will write a review for it next week. Every chapter has useful, actionable advice, but what made me stop and think was the chapter introduction for chapter 12. To paraphrase the sentence, it said you need to practise something before it becomes committed to your long-term memory and you can recall it automatically. (Cron, 2012, p.219) *

You’re probably thinking something along the lines of, ‘Yes, Laura, that’s what the adage “practice makes perfect” is about.’ I suppose this is my rather rambling way of saying to myself and others to be kind to yourself and to keep going with whatever you’re trying to perfect or learn. Your knowledge or skills are going to improve incrementally, and your recall of that knowledge or those skills will become automatic over time.

*Cron, L. (2012) Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence. Berkley: Ten Speed Press