Friday, January 30, 2009

The Writing Zone

Consistency seems to be a crucial factor to becoming a successful author. I’ve seen several authors advise their peers to write everyday whether they feel up to it or not. Sure, I’ll admit that days pop up when I don’t feel as inspired. The normal days come up as well: I’m a writer. Ho-hum-hum, guess I’ll scratch out a few sentences of progress on ‘the book’.

Ah, but then what about those other days? The days when everything you type comes across better than you had envisioned. Your story flows, your characters sound perfect, and you make more progress in one sitting than you had made in the preceding week. Oh, glorious day, you stumbled into the writing zone!

So, what gets us in the zone? Is it extra sugar in the coffee, a good night’s rest, a snow day? I’m sure we could rattle off various theories. My favorite, however, the one instigator to the writing zone that feels the best to me is the breakthrough.

A time comes when every writer agonizes over a section or character that fails to fit into the story the way the author anticipated. Sometimes days will pass without a resolution. Then, it comes to you, your breakthrough. You sit down to type and the words just flow. Authors love the writing zone.

Discouraged? Don’t be. You’re in a valley, but know that just around the corner, any day now, will be your breakthrough. You’ll get that novel fixed. You’ll find the writing zone!

Anyone have any suggestions on getting into the writing zone? If so, help the rest of us. Is it an extra cookie, perhaps, or maybe a short break?

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