A writer in the “zone”

My family and friends all know I’m “in the zone” right now with DECLAN’S CROSS, my September Sharpe & Donovan novel. The “zone” is when a writer is so immersed in the story that everything else falls away. It happens at different stages in the writing and for varying lengths of time. Twenty minutes in the zone early on in a manuscript can work wonders. At the end of a book, like now, I eat, drink and sleep the writing. It’s as if every word of the entire story is on the tip of my tongue. It’s not the time to put the pages aside and go kayaking for a couple of days!

I know, too, that I have to yank myself out of the zone for real life. I want to. It’s healthier physically, emotionally, creatively. I have certain rules I follow that help.

Rule #1

I never eat at the computer but especially when I’m in the zone. It’s too easy to forget I ate that bag of Fritos! I reserve eating for when I can do it mindfully, tuned in to my surroundings, with company other than the characters in my head.

Rule #2

I only drink coffee, tea and water at the computer. I never drink alcohol. N-e-v-e-r. No sugary drinks, either. Mostly I drink unsweetened tea and water with lemon.

Rule #3

I take frequent short exercise breaks. I admit I don’t always come out of the zone easily for these. I get up and move every 25 minutes or so. Often I’ll do 100 jumping jacks right in my office while looking out at the wild turkeys. On very cold days, I’ll do the island lap on Wii Fit. I have a health club but I don’t always get there when I’m in the zone. My favorite exercise is walking. Most of the time it’s safe if my mind wanders on occasion but there was that incident recently with the dogs down the road — nothing like four dogs charging angrily toward you and kids yelling “It’s okay, they won’t bite you!” to jerk a writer out of whether or not to keep that love scene in Chapter 12.

Rule #4

I do “re-entry” and pull myself out of the book when I’m with family and friends. Not only is it rude not to be fully present, it’s also not how I want to live my life. But it can also be…well, perilous. A particular incident when my son was in high school stands out as a cautionary tale for me. I was deep in the zone with a book and I went into the kitchen and grabbed what I thought was the water glass I’d left on the counter that morning. I took a sip just as Zack walked in and looked at me in horror. I tuned into my surroundings and saw the gallon jug of water on the counter — water he’d collected from a small pond down the road known for producing hundreds of tadpoles in early spring. It was for an experiment for his biology class.

Words you never want to hear: “Mom, you just drank my swamp water.”

Talk about getting yanked out of the zone! Over the next few days, we watched the bacteria grow in his petri dish. As I recall eight was normal and we stopped counting at 43. Miraculously, I didn’t get sick. I learned my lesson to always get a fresh glass for water and to pull myself out of the book…especially when there’s a science experiment being conducted in the kitchen.

I’m sure I can think of other rules and cautionary tales but now it’s back to the writing.

Have a great day, everyone!

Carla