NaNoWriMo Productivity: Unlocking the 'Flow State'

Ever wondered about that magical state where words flow unrestricted, time seems suspended, and the world around you ceases to exist?

To help you through NaNoWriMo this November, we're giving you practical tips to increase your productivity and get the words on the page. What better place to start than getting into the flow?

Tip 1: Build a ritual to teach your brain it's writing time.

Tip 2: Try the "brain dump" technique - visualize the scene before you start "officially" writing.

We'll guide you through the ins and outs of these two tips in today's quick NaNoWriMo episode.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome to the Author Wheel
Between Soad, number three.
I'm award-winning fantasyauthor, megan Haskell.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
And I'm Greta Boris, usa Today Bestselling Mystery
Thriller Author.
Together we are the AuthorWheel.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
So today we are going to talk about getting into the
flow so that your Nano-Rymoproject runs smoothly.
When you sit down at thecomputer, you can write and be
in that zone.
But before we give our tips,why don't we talk a little bit
about what flow actually is?

(00:37):
Because we actually did alittle bit of research on this.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
We did and we actually also talked to Becca
Seim about it and she mentionedthe name of the scientist who
wrote about it, researched it,did the first research projects
around it.
His name starts with an M andit's really hard to say, so I'm

(01:02):
not going to try and I can'tremember what it is, but you can
get in the flow in lots ofthings.
Writing is just one of them.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Right.
So that flow state is that zonewhere the ideas just seem to
come to you.
You lose track of time and youget so involved in your project
that the rest of the world seemsto kind of disappear for a
period of time.
And it's kind of a magicalstate of being.

(01:33):
And a lot of runners feel thatwhen they're running, after you
run for a while, you kind of getinto this like Runners high.
Yeah, the runners high and youget the same thing when you're
really in a zone, when you'rewriting, there are lots of
things.
Music players, musicians oftenenter the flow state.

(01:53):
Any kind of creative thing canbe flow state, but it's yeah,
it's that kind of like magicalstate of being where you just
everything else disappears.
You don't think about anythingbut your project and it's like
the muse is just speakingthrough you.
It's kind of amazing.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, and you kind of know intuitively what to do
next without your.
It's like your logical brainfades away and you're kind of
working on intuition and workingfrom that place of you know,
stephen King calls the boys inthe basement or your muse,
whatever right.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Exactly, exactly.
So, since Nana Rymel has juststarted, when this episode
actually airs it should beNovember 2.
So you've just started, sowe're going to assume you are
highly motivated, that you areready to get working, that you
have your idea and you're justraring to go, and so we're going

(02:53):
to help you get into the flowwith our two tips from today.
So the first tip is to create aritual around your writing.
So what does that mean?
What does that look like?
It's a little different foreverybody.
Some writers will light acandle or they'll have essential
oils that they like that reallystimulate their creativity.

(03:17):
So it can be like the flame ofthe candle or the scent of the
candle or the essential oils,the smell.
That sensory repetition canreally help you.
I personally like to use an appcalled Brain FM, which helps
with white noise kind of musicthat's designed to fade into the

(03:39):
background but stimulate yourbrain in certain ways to help
you get into that flow state aswell.
It's a very cool app actually.
They not only do flow state forcreativity, but also for sleep
or for taking a nap or all thesedifferent things, and so it
helps change your brain waves orsomething like that.
I don't know, I just like itfor the white noise and the fact
that it runs on a timer, but itworks for me.

(04:02):
But there's also you can createspecial spaces in your house.
I think we were talking to ShellHanukkah about her writing
ritual and how she goes into aseparate space in her house for
creative writing versus doingher business work, and that
really helps her get into thatmental headspace for writing.

(04:24):
So, creating that ritual,creating the space, creating the
sequence of events that leadyou into your manuscript, so
that once you get there, you gothrough that process, you
actually are ready to write andyour brain, the meat of your
brain, knows that this is whatwe're doing now, and so you

(04:45):
don't have to change gears quiteso frequently.
It just helps you get rightinto it.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Right, and that's a really good one.
Another tip is that it is mucheasier to get in a flow state
when you know what you're goingto write.
So the less decisions you haveto make, because the decision
making part of your brain is adifferent part of your brain
than the intuitive flow statepart of your brain.

(05:13):
So in order to stay there, youwant to make as few decisions as
possible, and so a great way todo that is what is called brain
dumps.
So what a brain dump is is it'sjust sort of what it sounds
like.
You're ready to write a chapteror a scene and you envision it

(05:36):
in your mind and you sort ofdump that what you see in your
mind on the page.
So, technically, the way you'resupposed to do it which I don't
do it, exactly the way you'resupposed to do it, but
technically the way you'resupposed to do it you can close
your eyes, open your chapter.
You can close your eyes if youcan type with your eyes shut,

(05:57):
but if you can't, don't worry,you can look at your keyboard
and then you just imagine thescene and it's like you're
taking snapshots with your words.
So you don't worry aboutpunctuation, you don't worry
about spelling the onlypunctuation you might use as a
comma between words or phrases.

(06:19):
So it could be something likewalks into room, smells apple
pie, stomach growls, mothersitting at table Curtains
blowing in breeze, apples oncurtains, whatever the details
of the thing you see, and letyour brain kind of go through

(06:39):
the scene.
You don't want to write all thedialogue, but you might write a
word or two of dialogue totrigger you, to let you know
what the conversations are goingto be about, if there are
conversations in the scene andso on, and it shouldn't take
longer than maybe one to fiveminutes tops.

(07:01):
And then when you're done, youcan now different people do this
different ways.
You can get up, take a break,go get a drink of water,
whatever, and then when you comeback, write that scene, or you
can go directly into writing it.
Or another way I use it is atthe end of a day of writing,

(07:23):
when I know I'm done.
I have all these ideas now forthe next chapter or two, because
I'm so in the flow and in thestory.
I might do a brain dump, open anew page for a new chapter and
do a brain dump for the next day, or even to brain dumps for the
next day, so I know what I'mgoing to write when I get there.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Thank you, yeah, and the the brain dump to the way I
use it is usually at thebeginning, before I write the
scene, but making sure I get allthat sensory detail.
So it's like I'm imagining amovie, but in, you know, for 4d
or whatever they call it themovie.
You know you get all the othersensations too, but you imagine

(08:09):
you're actually there.
That way, when you're writingthe scene, you can already feel
all the things that yourcharacter is feeling, and that
really helps Bring life to thescene when you write it, which I
think.
I don't know, I have no proofto say this but I think that
ultimately reduces yourrevisions later as well, because

(08:29):
you've already Brought in a lotof that sensory detail that you
might have to layer in laterotherwise so, yeah, and I also
think that helps you get in theflow, because You're not just in
your analytical, logical brain,mm-hmm, because you're, you're,
you're, you're moving into thesensory aspects of your brain.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
You know the smells, the feelings, the emotions,
senses on your skin Cold, hot,all of those kinds of things you
know, you're, you're, you'retalking to a different part,
your brain is talking to adifferent part of your body.
And Also, interestingly,something I learned is that the

(09:12):
memory center of your brain andthe scent or Smell center of
your brain are very closelyentwined, which is why when you
walk, you know you maybe walkinto a shop and you get the
whiff of a candle or a perfumeor something and immediately
you're three years old again,you know, at your beach house
with your parents or whatever.
It's that kind of the thing.

(09:34):
So getting into those Centuryplaces and memories and all of
those kinds of things are greatfor getting in the flow.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Absolutely All right.
Well, so I think that's it fortoday's betweeny.
So to get into the flow.
We hope this will help youAchieve that flow state in your
writing and get off on the rightfoot for nano-rymo.
Don't forget, if you want toget see these tips every week

(10:06):
and you want to hear them, makesure you subscribe to the
podcast on your favorite podcastplayers that you don't miss
anything.
Until next time, keep yourstories rolling you.