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Some thoughts on flow-- how I first found it, how I sought it, how I lost it, how I found it again, and how I've learned to harness it as needed. 1/
First of all, YMMV, any advice given herein worked for me but might not work for you, there are many journeys, etc. Sometimes creative block is depression. Also, of course it will be harder to do creative work during a worldwide pandemic. Reply Guy, you are not needed here. 2/
First of all, are you familiar with FLOW? Here's the Wikipedia definition. I first learned about it at 17 in a gifted independent study. I had no idea what it was before then, only that I loved it. Also learned about my synesthesia that year. Mind: blown. 3/
So we all experienced flow as kids, even if we didn't know it. Then we become self aware, and it gets harder to find and maintain bc we're always being meta. Am I doing it right? Am I good/bad? Is someone watching? Do I look dumb? Judgment makes it hard. 4/
I found it again when reading a great book. I remember sitting down with King of the Wind at age 9, reading the whole thing, and then wondering why my body ached so much and where 5 hours had gone. Such a great feeling! But the book must be engrossing or you can't get to flow. 5/
My first true brush with flow happened when I was 12. I decided to paint a mural in my room, and once I started painting, it was like the world fell away. It was exhilarating, beautiful, energizing. Time ceased to exist. It didn't happen with smaller art. I craved more walls. 6/
So I volunteered to paint murals in schools and churches. I painted over my old mural with a new one. Something about working big and having a long project allowed me to fall into the work. I didn't know it at the time, but that was the key: I needed something bigger than me. 7/
So there's size--to access flow, I need a big project, 4-8 hours at a time. I need a roadmap, need to know what to do in what order and have a plan to follow, start to finish; I can't make things up as I go along. I need confidence. And, often, I need music. 8/
I need trust, to feel safe. I was doing a big mural in a school when I was 17, and the school janitor would stand behind me, watch me paint, make comments about how pretty I was. It made me uncomfortable. I told adults. They said he was harmless. I did 1/2 the mural and quit. 9/
Why? Because when you can't access flow, big projects are absolute torture. Instead of the hours falling away, each minute feels like an hour. I learned that if I felt uncomfortable in any way, I had to turn down the job. Turned down some home murals for that reason, too. 10/
So I painted murals through hs and college. So many nurseries. I finally quit bc while angsty pregnant women are kind to the 16yo painting an entire nursery for $300, they're not so kind to 24yos who want $800 and refuse to turn an agreed-upon oak into a willow for free. 11/
I painted and sculpted until my second baby was born. Had a couple of shows. I loved losing myself in repetition on a theme-- 60 clay mermaids with animal heads, 100 small wooden paintings of my pregnant belly. But once I had 2 babies under 3, flow left me completely. 12/
Because for flow, you have to shed responsibility long enough to get into the zone. You need time and space. You need the freedom to not be beholden to someone else's needs. I learned that the key to getting back to flow was carving out time for myself, which was hard. 13/
When my youngest child was 9 months old, I started writing my first book. The key was to be physically removed from my kids, whether I was at a coffee shop or my husband took them to the playground. It was hard, at first, not worrying, but practice made it normal. 14/
Finding flow for the first time after kids was like going home-- like finding an entire wing of your house that had been locked away, and you're walking through, whipping dusty white sheets off familiar, beloved furniture that'd been waiting for your return. It was HEAVEN. 15/
Part of the reason I was able to barf out that first book is that I was so underslept I was beyond self-judgment. But a more important reason is that I had a plan. I knew the signpost moments. Each day, I chewed on what I would write next, waiting for my next oasis of flow. 16/
Looking back, every time I'd tried to write a book before, I'd told myself that if I had a plan, it wouldn't be fun, that the muse would, I dunno, beam pure magic into my head if I just sat before the blank screen with a pure heart. Balderdash! I need a plan. Scaffolding. 17/
Thus I created my MO for writing novels:
* know the beginning, instigating factor, main conflict, climax, ending
* have time & space
* have a playlist, album, or channel of music that will help, not hinder getting into flow
* no self judgment
* know what I'm writing that day 18/
* know the beginning, instigating factor, main conflict, climax, ending
* have time & space
* have a playlist, album, or channel of music that will help, not hinder getting into flow
* no self judgment
* know what I'm writing that day 18/
I generally plan to write 2000 words a day. That's my goal. Some days, I know I'll only get 1300, and some days, especially toward the end, I might get 5000. One day I hit 13,000. But I can feel the moment when I'm out of gas, and I don't blame myself if I can't keep going. 19/
If you're having trouble accessing flow, IMO it's rarely helpful to keep bashing your head against the keyboard or get mopey/self-blamey. Sometimes, I have to step back and see where the bottleneck is. Playlist isn't working? Kids not respecting my space? Time to hack that. 20/
Frex, with the pandemic, I work in my office. Sometimes the kids get bored and interrupt me even though they've been asked not to. So I have a bright orange post-it note that says NO which I put on the door when I'm really intense. Not every day-- only when IT'S ON. 21/
On another recent project, I had trouble immediately tapping in to the vein, and I realized I was doomscrolling on FB and Twitter bc Covid. So I logged off social on my laptop. BOOM. With nothing else to do, I reimmersed in telling my story. Distraction is the flow foe. 22/
So, the question: Can I access flow every day? NOPE. No one can. Life, illness, hormones, family intervene. On days when the flow doesn't come as easily, I still push on. It's the difference between roller skating and slogging through a swamp, but sometimes, you gotta slog. 23/
All you can do is look at the situation that most reliably gets you to flow and try to replicate that. Make sure you're fed, hydrated, the kids are fed, your partner isn't in a bad mood. Cultivate the proper conditions. Be ready to immerse instead of dicking around. 24/
On the days when flow is really stubborn, I know I need exercise. 20 laps around the yard listening to a good podcast really helps. I need nature, sunlight, sweat. I need that way the mind wonders when the podcast is boring. I count breaths. And then my mind starts chewing. 25/
Here are the biggest flow killers for me:
* no exercise/slug life
* not enough sleep, food, water
* not being sure what happens next and praying it'll just come to me
* feeling sick/worried/scared/uncomfy
* knowing I'm going to get interrupted
* being too warm 26/
* no exercise/slug life
* not enough sleep, food, water
* not being sure what happens next and praying it'll just come to me
* feeling sick/worried/scared/uncomfy
* knowing I'm going to get interrupted
* being too warm 26/
Because here's the thing: Accessing flow takes WORK. Art is not some magical, mystical force that only shows up for Special People who are draped over pretty couches. It's a process you seek and hone and struggle through, and hitting flow is the pinnacle of that process. 27/
Flow is like surfing. We all focus on riding the wave, that pure joy that seems effortless. We focus less on the effort that gets you there: learning to swim, falling, getting injured, trying again, crashing, being told you suck, going out even when you can't find a wave. 28/
Sometimes, when I'm editing a first draft, I can spot the days when the flow came naturally as compared to the days I had to slog through, when every word was a fight. Part of the writer's job is making the dull bits shine as brightly as the inspired bits. 29/
That's one of the coolest things about flow, as a writer: If you hone your skill, you can craft stories that gift the reader with that same sense of flow, that same effortless and magical experience of complete immersion. That's the goal. Flow makes words, words make flow. 30/
But whenever the flow won't come, you have to remind yourself: Flow isn't random magic, you can't wait for it or beg for it or expect it. Like anything else, you have to cultivate the right conditions, tend to yourself and give your work the space, time, and love it needs. 31/
And you have to remember that sometimes, even if you do everything right, you still won't be able to tap into flow and accomplish what you think you need to. Some part of art is always out of our control. Sometimes the field lies fallow. Take time to rest, recover, and dream. 32/
I love this topic and could ramble all day, but, um, deadlines. If you want to read more on flow, read Flow or Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi or check out the @UnmistakableCR interview with Steven Kotler, which is the discussion that inspired this thread. 33/
As ever, if you have any ungoogleable writing questions, I'll do my best to answer! Check out http://askthebards.com , where @kevinhearne and I did 14 podcast episodes about writing topics. And read Story Genius by Lisa Cron, which really helped me level up. 34/
And if you liked this thread, you might like my books. You can find them all on my website, http://whimsydark.com , or check out my pinned thread for a brief tour of my novels and comics. May you tap into flow until the letters scrape off your keyboard! FIN. 35/35
