Front Yard: How to Get the Writer’s Flow and Keep It!

front yardFirst, can I squee at the Once Upon a Time season finale? It’s my guilty pleasure, what cantumblr_inline_n5h7s5FpSi1qgf4wj I say, but I loved it.

The Hook and Emma stuff was great. Hook being all jealous of his old self kissing Emma was played so well, for laughs but to also show us how Hook has changed, so much so, he hates the idea of his old self smacking on Emma! Their kiss at the end melted my bones 🙂 I was kinda irritated with how they twisted Regina once again, getting her romance messed up, this time by Emma instead of Snow. I mean, she did jail, and possibly kill Marian, did she not?

I started watching Fringe on Netflix and I’m surprised I haven’t watched it before. I’m only on season one (can’t binge watch too much with my third book to finish). While it definitely has an X-Files vibe, J.J. Abrams (is he like taking over the world of Sci Fi or what?), Orci and Kurtzman have created an original premise with tapping into alternate realities and experimentation on people. And of course, we have Denethor, Steward of Gondor, as Walter (John Noble), and Pacey (Joshua Jackson) as Peter. What more do you need? John Noble is great as the nutty Walter. I definitely like the Altered States aspects and am looking forward to seeing some of the alternate universe stuff.

So The Flow…

I suffer from constant writer’s block and flow issues. A while back, when starting the second book in my necromancer series, I sat down and expelled the first ten pages of the book. It was truly amazing. I have yet to repeat such a feat. Now, the inspired moments tend to produce about two to three pages, but I’m not complaining.

What is the flow? In this podcast from the Accidental Creative, Steven Kotler (link to podcast below) describes it as an optimal state of consciousness where the self vanishes and creativity is amplified. In typing those ten pages, I felt like I was dictating words flashing past my brain. I think many writers would describe the flow in the same way, just dictating. Somehow, when the flow happens, we’ve deactivated the frontal cortex which controls the pesky and sometimes nasty inner critic.

But is the flow something that happens by chance, the ship passing in the night, or can we trigger it somehow? Well, good news. The answer is yes! (according to Kotler) Continue reading