– 70 popular books in 20 countries – and many more to come

The successful Norwegian author, Unni Lindell, has published 70 books, mostly crime, since her first book 26 years ago. She claims in a recent interview that she has so many unwritten books that she is concerned: “Do I have enough time left (she is 55 years old) to write all the books I have in mind?”

Her writing has become a central focus in her life. In her intensive periods of writing, she often works non-stop from early morning – for 16 hours, only interrupted a couple of times during the week for a quick trip to the grocery store for something to eat. She admits that the impact of these intensive weeks of writing is stronger now than before and that she gets more tired, but her urge to write is still so strong that she must do it. She has become increasingly aware that only she can write the stories in the particular way she does.

No rose garden

Ten years ago she felt that she had unlimited time ahead to write new books. Today she sees that she may not be able to tell all of her stories. She thinks that she may not have time or capacity to write more than 40-50 more books. Her untold stories are abundant. She seems to have a never ending open source of creative spontaneous activity, and enjoys it very much. Her life, and the history of her parents and grandparents, cannot be characterized as a life in a nice rose garden. But she claims she makes use of the darker sides in a creative way in her writing, and that she couldn’t write without these sides.

Better without thoughts?

Others may feel that when their spontaneous activity is governed by too many thoughts which they don’t’ enjoy at all, the best would be to get rid of them, e.g. worrying thoughts – which tend to leave a feeling of reduced energy. The ideal may seem to be a mind with as few thoughts like these as possible.

“Do you still have a lot of thoughts during meditation, after many years of practice?” is a frequently asked question among persons who want to learn meditation. In search of more inner calmness of the mind, it feels desirable to get rid of trivial or repetitive thoughts which may be accompanied by a stressful feeling. Contrary to this expectation, the spontaneous activity is stimulated during meditation and may open for more access to creative ideas, impulses and thoughts that are surfacing from the unconscious. May be there are some creative sources that come as a surprise – although they don’t not necessarily become bestsellers for everyone. And there may be thoughts that help us know ourselves better, towards a deeper understanding of what governs us.