Have you ever set aside an hour or so to write, started the process and not stopped for what turned into 2 or 3 hours, maybe even more? Like your brain has tapped into a flow of creativity that requires no conscious effort.
Imagine yourself in the writing zone, when words and storylines are flowing from you and your book feels like it’s writing itself, would you want to hit pause to deal with the outside world? Of course not.
But to what extent?
I have lost count of how many times I planned to spend an hour writing only for the clock to magically fast forward five hours.
Before I know it, my apple watch is screaming at me to standup, my bladder swearing to repay me with old age incontinence for the neglect it’s been shown, and my children are on Google searching for the contact details for CPS.
There are two mental states that can be responsible for locking you into such a condition when writing. One is flow state and the other hyperfocus. They both start off in a similar way but while one is considered healthy and positive, the other is not.
Flow state is considered a mental state of deep engagement and enjoyment in an activity, often leading to peak performance. It is characterized by intense focus, a sense of effortless effort, and a distorted sense of time.
The Flow State theory that sparked books, articles, and Ted Talks was coined by researcher, educator, public speaker, and co-director of the university’s Quality of Life Research Center, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Observing artists, he was fascinated at how immersed they became when working, zoning out everyone and everything around them, and subsequently the happiness such a level of absorption attained.
Hyper focus on the other hand is defined by an intense fixation on a task. It is often accompanied by a diminished awareness of the environment, with basic needs and responsibilities forgotten. Hyperfocus becomes a forced state and disrupts the flow, replacing it entirely.
I know this because on reflection I have experienced it many times.
My calmness turns into desperation, especially when I feel like I am running out of time. I don’t want to lose the emotional connection I have with the story and I’m fearful that any deflection from my task will do just that.
I certainly start in a flow state, but undeniably somewhere along the way I manage to slip into hyperfocus mode, made apparent when my basic needs become neglected.
It’s not hard to figure out why this happens. My fear of losing the flow if I pause for even a moment pushes me from one state to the other.
I can’t identify the exact moment it occurs, sliding from one to the other isn’t a conscious decision, but developing an awareness of it does mean that I can take steps to avoid it.
The first step was to get over my fear. To force myself to take a quick break regardless of how deeply immersed I was, if I needed the restroom, then I bloody well needed the restroom. Period.
I discovered that thankfully healthy breaks when in the zone don’t negatively affect it and can in fact be quite beneficial to it. I don’t care how immersed you become, if your back is killing you from being in the same position for five hours it’s a distraction.
Setting up for success is key to protecting the state you are in from drifting across the line between flow and hyperfocus. It involves the simplest of steps. Protect your peace, protect the process.
Make sure you are fed, watered, (you’re basically a houseplant) and all restroom needs have been fulfilled. Choose a space where you know disturbances from others will be minimal. Set yourself a minimum amount of time and remove the pressure of having specific goals to achieve outside of simply filling that window with writing.
Minimize distractions without shrouding yourself entirely from the rest of the world.
Theres a big difference between becoming distracted by a device and retaining a tether to reality. I have my devices on silent but place my phone in such a position that I can still see it when the screen lights up. It may take me a minute to glance at it if I’m halfway through a sentence or paragraph, but as soon as I am done I will check it.
I learned quickly that responding to a text won’t remove you from your mental state, but having an ever-growing list of tasks to complete once your writing is done will.
Grab a snack and walk around to stretch your legs. In my experience I have a sense of rejuvenation just by moving away from my writing space periodically.
So, we have looked at maintaining a flow state, but how do you acquire it in the first place?
I spoke to a friend recently who admitted she was struggling to get back into a project she had been working on. My advice to her was, just write.
It really is as simple as it sounds. Don’t go into a writing session pressuring yourself to zone out. For a start that isn’t always conducive to the task. You may find that additional research needs pop up, read throughs are necessary, or timelines need to be adjusted. Amending is just as important as moving forward.
Set yourself no expectations, just make the decision to carve out an hour and start typing. If it’s been a while, start by rereading the last thing you wrote. Whether you then move on to taking notes first or just launch straight into it is up to you, the most important thing is that you start.
As I said in an earlier blog, if the majority of what you write ends up being cut, so what. Sometimes you have to wade through a million possible scenarios that fill your brain before you access the best stuff.