Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jul 26, 2018 3:34:55 GMT
I definitely know what you're talking about with the procrastination and perfectionism causing overwhelm. (nods head)
I think I've really only truly entered flow one time when I had this very vivid story dream around 5 am. I just had to get up and start writing (by hand cos I didn't have a computer back then) and I wrote non-stop all day without a break for anything but the bathroom until 9 pm that night. Fastest day of my life and I wrote an entire story that day. Talk about being super in the zone!
You're prolly going to have to experiment to see what works best for you. Johnny Truant from the self publishing podcast, has his own quit office with a fancy swirly desk chair. He sits down at the same time every morning and he puts on white noise headphones, turns on the white noise and just starts writing, and that seems to help him enter the flow state.
So I guess exact routines every time you sit down to write can help signal your brain that it's time to get in the game.
Trying the just write two sentences then you can stop trick sometimes works. Usually starting is the hardest part, but once we've started and done so much it's usually easier to keep going. A lot of peeps find the pomodoro technique helpful, where you set a timer for 5 minutes and you can't do anything during those 5 minutes but write. Then once the timer goes off, you stop, and do something else for 5 minutes, and then you set the timer again. I don't think I'm getting the times right, but I think every writer likes different write on - write off amounts anyway.
Having a writing/accountability partner that you share your day's work with every evening, or whenever you choose to meet can help, too to keep you on track, or using an accountability group like my FB group. It doesn't work for me anymore, but public accountability has worked for me a couple of times.
The first long story I ever wrote I wrote a chapter at a time on my blog at SFF world. And then the second time it worked, I told a peep whom I liked that didn't yet know how undependable and flukey I am that I was writing a story and using their name for the main character. This worked to force me to actually write the story cos I'd said I would send this peep the story when I was done, and I didn't want them being disappointed in me.
I think I've really only truly entered flow one time when I had this very vivid story dream around 5 am. I just had to get up and start writing (by hand cos I didn't have a computer back then) and I wrote non-stop all day without a break for anything but the bathroom until 9 pm that night. Fastest day of my life and I wrote an entire story that day. Talk about being super in the zone!
You're prolly going to have to experiment to see what works best for you. Johnny Truant from the self publishing podcast, has his own quit office with a fancy swirly desk chair. He sits down at the same time every morning and he puts on white noise headphones, turns on the white noise and just starts writing, and that seems to help him enter the flow state.
So I guess exact routines every time you sit down to write can help signal your brain that it's time to get in the game.
Trying the just write two sentences then you can stop trick sometimes works. Usually starting is the hardest part, but once we've started and done so much it's usually easier to keep going. A lot of peeps find the pomodoro technique helpful, where you set a timer for 5 minutes and you can't do anything during those 5 minutes but write. Then once the timer goes off, you stop, and do something else for 5 minutes, and then you set the timer again. I don't think I'm getting the times right, but I think every writer likes different write on - write off amounts anyway.
Having a writing/accountability partner that you share your day's work with every evening, or whenever you choose to meet can help, too to keep you on track, or using an accountability group like my FB group. It doesn't work for me anymore, but public accountability has worked for me a couple of times.
The first long story I ever wrote I wrote a chapter at a time on my blog at SFF world. And then the second time it worked, I told a peep whom I liked that didn't yet know how undependable and flukey I am that I was writing a story and using their name for the main character. This worked to force me to actually write the story cos I'd said I would send this peep the story when I was done, and I didn't want them being disappointed in me.
