How to Write in the Zone for a Fast Draft

One of the greatest predictors of successful pre-plotting and writing a novel or memoir in a month is the ability to write in the zone. When you’re in the flow of your writing, words and ideas come to you effortlessly.

You don’t second-guess yourself. You’re not timid or anxious about your ability to persevere.

Writing fast encourages writing in the zone.Writing in the zone means your ego-driven mind disappears, your mind quiets and your imagination is free to flow onto the page. Your awareness shifts from your fears and worries, your to-do lists and the who-do-I-think-I-am-to-take-all-this-time-to-write-a-story thoughts, and your negative beliefs about your writing. No longer in the cramped and squeezed space under a heavy burden, writing in the zone means giving your story your complete and full concentration and attention.

You know you’re in the zone when time stops and you’re completely immersed in your story with full concentration.

The more challenging your writing, the more energized and focused and emotionally gratified by your writing you become. When you’re in the zone whether for hours or minutes, the quality and intensity of the writing are at their greatest and you write mostly by feel and intuition and heart.

20 Tips for Slipping into and Staying in the Zone:

1. Engage in regular exercise to your ability.
2. Eat a healthy diet.
3. Get enough of sleep.
4. Drink lots of water.
5. Establish a daily writing routine.
6. Clear blocks of time on your calendar — no appointments, errands, or outside demands.
7. Give yourself a clear and realistic daily writing goal — push yourself to write longer every daily session.
8. Decide where and when you’ll write daily with a minimum of distractions and interruptions.
9. Every thirty minutes stand or sit up and stretch and breath deeply. Then sit down to write again.
10. Give yourself at least a half an hour to get into the flow. Then, if you find your energy slipping switch to writing the next scene all the way to the end. If you’re stumped about what scene to write next, refer to The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.
11. Keep your pre-plot, Plot Planner in sight and often refer to the handy guide.
12. Take risks with your writing. Be bold. Stretch yourself in your daily practice and continue studying the craft of writing.
13. Acknowledge when a limiting belief swamps your mind and ask yourself what you are most afraid of. Ask yourself what your writing would be like unconstrained by insecurity, anxiousness and fear continually and intentionally direct your thoughts back to your writing in a one-pointed focus of attention to the scene in front of you.
14. Write regularly to create a writing habit
15. Rather than concentrate on what isn’t working in your story or look too far into the future with the story, direct your attention to what you have just written. Ask yourself, because that happens, what does your character do next?
16. Each day, focus on one or two scenes and up to four scenes only and no further.
17. Write each day with no judgment. Your goal is to get the first draft written.
18. Acknowledge that, as the habit of daily writing solidifies, as the month proceeds, the challenges of writing a first draft from beginning to end intensifies.
19. Stay with writing every day until you have achieved your daily word count
20. Celebrate your wins!

You know you’re in the zone when time stops and you’re completely immersed in your story with full concentration.

Today, I write.