I’ve asked Nick Kolenda, a digital marketing expert and all around swell guy, to look at the sales functions on my web store, because I know nuffink with a capital Nuff about e-commerce, but I am very sure that readers deserve the smoothest buying experience I can give them.
In the course of our discussion, Nick mentioned that we have two kinds of attention. One is referred to as top-down, meaning I’m on a web page or in a physical store because I have an objective in mind: Buy half a dozen good quality, dark green, washcloths. On other occasions, I might wander around with what’s called bottom-up attention: Drop by the Home Store and see what catches my eye. Might walk out empty handed, of course, but we all know how probable that outcome is in a well designed store.
This distinction, between top-down and bottom-up attention struck me as having a lot of relevance. Fr’instance, there I was in the saddle, riding Arko the Magnificent. The objective was a maneuver called a leg yield, in which the horse moves both forward and sideways. The result is a little like a grapevine, with the equine facing forward, but moving diagonally.
I was not getting through to Arko, and the harder I tried to rider-splain at him, the more he just put his head up and charged forward. I got so fixed on the objective–get the 
horse to do the movement–that anything else, like the impact of my shouty riding on our relationship, the cat scampering along the mounting ramp, the horse’s increasing frustration with me–could not penetrate.
I focus top-down a lot. What’s on the to-do list? What’s the critical path for getting it done? What’s the easiest step I can take in the direction of the objective?
But top-down attention is problematic in many situations, such as my ride on Arko. A more bottom-up approach–How’s the horse doing? What feedback am I getting from the instructor? Is it time to take a break or change the subject?–might have resulted in greater progress toward the objective, and in Arko not dreading my next ride, regardless of what we work on.
Relationships are probably better for liberal doses of bottom-up thinking. The early stages of vacation planning, putting together a menu, creativity in general… all benefit from strong bottom-up focus. Lord Julian, by contrast, needs both top-down and bottom-up attention to solve his mysteries.
The part of writing a novel that I struggle with the most is plotting. What is the real, substantial, interesting thing keeping the protagonists apart? What choices has this character blown in the past? What would engulf them in despair? What’s the compelling evidence they are pre-programmed to ignore or misconstrue? These are all bottom-up questions that require a broad, open-minded approach on a schedule of my imagination’s choosing.
Once I know where the story is going, I can write the livin’ peedywaddles out of it, but all that peering under rocks and watching clouds… it’s hard for me. Other writers love the sifting and what-if-ing, and for them, getting the words on the page takes 
unrelenting discipline.
I suspect a lucky few of us can move between top-down and bottom-up focus with instinctive ease, but for me, top-down, especially in new situations, is the default mode, and that is sometimes a spectacularly wrong approach (just ask Arko). Do you have a default mode when it comes to how you focus your attention? Does your default ever get you in trouble?
I’ll send a signed copy of A Gentleman in Search of a Wife to one commenter, not limited to the US, because my lovely readers are from all over the map!
I took on the project of making a flowerbed in the front yard decent again. We bought this house two years ago and I’m just now getting around to outdoor stuff. I am not one of those people who can draw a diagram, arrange carefully studied plants on it, and follow through. I can’t even carefully study plants and their requirements. Instead, I dug up a peony wallowing in a bed of out-of-control ivy (next project) and moved it to the flowerbed. Then I visited nurseries to see what looked good. Bought a couple of daylilies to plop in by the sole daylily in the bed. On another visit I bought a hydrangea, thinking it will take over a corner between two rosebushes that have beautiful blooms. Saw some bee balm and thought it might look striking in a clump. We’ll see. All this to say my ADD pushes me more towards bottom-up focus than top-down.
I love your books — and enjoy rereading them. Having read your blog for the last 30 minutes in the middle of the night…i can see that you truly hear that appreciation.
But to the focus question: i sometimes think neither. My husband and i have lived in atwo story townhouse with lots of stairs … down to the carport too… for 53 years. Against LOTS of advice from well-meaning friends.
A few months ago my 89 year old husband fell and broke his hip….and it was clear our long run of aging in place was over. Or on to the next level — moving away from Honolulu and to Tucson to be 1/2 mile from our youngest daughter. No thinking — just knowing.
Now faced with moving— sorting and deciding — it suddenly came to me to reverse my thinking.
Picture the new townhouse and imaging what i want in it. We will see how that works. Or doesn’t. But as a final compliment— i love your blogs too. It has been a refreshing midnight break. Thanks!
I’m definitely a top-down in most things. When I was buying physical books, I had a list and went through the used-book store pretty methodically. I read the recipe first to see if I have the important ingredients (I don’t like cooked celery or green bell pepper so will happily leave those out) while my partner sticks his head in the pantry, fridge, and/or freezer and comes up with a good meal on the fly (fortunately, he does most/all of the cooking). But occasionally, I will do something in the creative area and then it’s just as likely to be bottom-up.
Please do not put me on the list for the physical book as I have, and have already read, the electronic version (loved it, of course) and am not keeping physical books these days (no room and I plan to downsize to a smaller place within the next few years).
I definitely a TOP DOWN person!! It is really hard for me to pivot to a bottom up thinking style.
I hate shopping for women’s clothes- why do I have to browse through 8 different departments- why can’t the store just put ALL the short sleeve shirts in 1 area so I don’t have to waste my time! Men’s departments used to be organized that way, but unfortunately they have changed over the years and are now nearly as annoying as the women’s. Boo.
Oh my gosh, YES! Don’t even get me started on the irregularities in women’s clothes sizes in addition to the lack of organization in stores.
Loved this book, like all the other Lord Julian books. Especially liked his interaction with Hugh de St Sevier. Would love to see Julian and Violet , and their significant others work on a case together. And throw Hugh in there too. Also want to see Julian and Perry get their happy ending.
Oh, I’m definitely a top downer trying hard to become a bottom-up person or at least a situational 50-50. I’ll never give up my lists (top down), but can revise them quite willingly. Is that bottom up?
I own the digital copy, so please select another person for the book.
I love to plan parties with groups of friends. When I first start thinking about scheduling a party, I begin by perusing the thousands of recipes I’ve collected, looking for several that I think would fit whatever theme we are trying for. We’ve done “Souper” parties (with a selection of soups and divided plates so our guests can taste all of them), a “Cheesy” party (where most of the dishes contained cheese, including cheesecake for dessert), “Pi” celebrations (where we served savory and sweet pies, starting with make your own pizza pies, and ending with apple pie), and many others. That’s the “bottom up” portion of the planning. Once I zero in on a particular menu, then the “top down” planning begins, printing out the recipes, creating shopping lists, making a spread sheet with tasks assigned to specific days leading up to the party, decorating the table, arranging serving bowls and utensils, etc. Ultimately it all comes together and we end up having a wonderful time with wonderful friends. Stay safe. Stay well everyone! Unfortunately, my eyes don’t allow me to read printed books anymore, so choose someone else for the free book!
I’m a circular action-taker. If I have a job like cleaning my place or packing for a long trip, I intend to work on one section at a time, but instead I circulate: in the kitchen checking out snacks to bring, then to the table looking at paperwork, then to the bedroom searching for my passport, then to the closet pulling out tote bags. I then begin again moving around. Eventually everything gets done but it’s a slow, random process. I wish I were more organized and focused, but that’s not how I work. (Shrug)
Having just read In Search of A Wife…I loved it. Why is Julian so good at sleuthing? Attention to detail, intuition, almost as good as a woman’s,that “tells” him he’s missing something and finally the patience to look back and find what’s been missing in his deductions. Also, he may jump to a conclusion about someone but is lovely enough to see he’s in error and be a gentleman through and through.
I do love Lord Julian. I already have the book on my Nook e reader, and I am reading it slowly to savor it! I start out doing bottom up thinking/planning, or as someone said yesterday “circular”. Then when I have cogitated and meandered for a while and I need to get the suitcase packed, or whatever, I make a list and do the top down part. This reminds me of language learning – does one study the vocabulary and grammar and memorize the conjugations and THEN go out into the world? Or does one ride buses and wander the streets listening to people and absorbing it, and finally go to the grammar book to sort it out? I learned a lot of Spanish by absorbing it, and then studying the grammar in class later.
Research 40 years ago suggested you get a good ear for it first, then vocab, then grammar
Just finished re-reading an HEA where top-down versus bottom-up was the main conflict between principals. My parents were similar in that respect. They could want the same outcome and spend years discussing how to get there, sometimes at volume. And I thoroughly enjoyed the Lord Julian.
When I was working (nursing management, mostly critical care) I was a nearly 100% top-down type of person. I needed to be or I’d never get my stuff done in time to deal with the everyday issues that would pop up. My default mode of top-down was pretty rigid and I often didn’t like myself for being that way.
Nowadays, I am a retired lady, loving my days at home with my best-of-all-time husband. I find I love being a bottom-up kind of gal. It fits better now and although I sometimes slip into the top-down mode, I find it annoying. Life is too short to fuss.
These days I do tend to be more top-down in my thinking and actions. For years I had jobs where that was absolutely the best way to do the jobs. However, there were always times when a shift to bottom’s up thinking was best. Sometimes I was able to recognize that and be effective with switching gears, other times… not so much.
Many years ago while working on my college degree, I had much more of a bottoms up way of doing my research papers. I adore history and doing research. With every single paper I had to write – even my English Lit ones – I got so caught up in doing research that I left the actual paper writing until right before the paper was due. One memorable time, in addition to the problematic time crunch, I had computer issues. Back in the early days of home PCs, not all of us were familiar with the limits in file size – at least I was not. Our ‘state of the art’ 5 1/4 inch floppy disks could handle multiple files, just not large files. I found out when 7 pages of my paper disappeared that there were limits on file sizes. Luckily, I had printed 10 pages of the document (and thought I’d save it), so I only had to rewrite 4 pages. However, it made an impression. From then on, I made sure I started writing papers earlier, saved my files often, and checked the page length so I didn’t run out of file space.
Whether or not I am top-down or bottom-up depends on whether my husband is with me or not. Left to my own devices, I am a bottom-up person. Since my husband has not progressed to the point where he will sit in the car and wait for me (my dad did that for 20+ years), I am now a top-down person.