Writing in the Zone

Sometimes, the temperature is just right.  Sometimes, it's the dewey smell after the summer rain.  I've noticed over the course of my life that seasons are highly influential when it comes to my creativity.  I had recently been awake for a couple days straight and on that night, I found myself sitting in my living room opening my senses to a Staten Island spring.  It's been warmer than usual and we had all the windows in the house open.  The smells of budding flowers, the sounds of birds going crazy and the feel of nice warm breezes made their way through my windows.  At around 3am, I had a moment of self-awareness.  I should be writing, I thought.  It was the spring after Aiden was born that I burned through the pages of my first draft of Alorya.  I would stay up late to feed and care for him, while Regina caught up on some much needed sleep.

I don't know if it's possible, but I'm going to try to blog about getting into the Zone.  I first heard the term in the days when I played basketball for hours on end and it's a moment when everything goes right and the energy is endless.  When I was writing Alorya, I would get into that Zone and emerge with 40-50 pages that for the life of me, I can't explain their inspiration or source.  I sometimes tell people that the book wrote itself, but I edited the first draft.  It was the most amazing thing I had ever done and I sometimes find myself acting like a junky waiting for that next moment in the Zone.

It was during the other night when I may have found the formula:

• The environment has to be perfect.  You may not have discovered your environment, but when you do, try to replicate it whenever you're ready to write.
• Make it personal.  No matter the topic, we all have some feeling one way or another.  If you don't have it, don't write about it.  Draw from that feeling when you write.
• Go off on a tangent.  You can always go back and edit, but sometimes while writing about "A", a few thoughts on topic "B" pop up in our heads.  Write it down.  You can move or delete it during a later edit if you don't like it, but the important thing is that something about "A" inspired you to think about topic "B".
• Do Not Check Your Spelling and Grammar.  You can always do that later.  If you're serious about writing, you're going to hire an editor anyway.  Let the story flow and don't worry about spelling and grammar for now.
• Get comfortable.  The perfect environment should always include a comfort.  You may find yourself writing for hours, so don't let the pain of sitting on cactus be a distraction.
• Plan to be alone.

I would love to bottle it and sell it, but I'm just hoping to be able to give some of my own insight into the Zone.  We write because we love to do it.  I love to write because of those exhilarating moments when the world around me become ethereal and my story comes to life.

Never Winter

The Chill falls,
branches rustle in the wind.
Crunching beneath my feet the leaves lie.
It's almost Winter and time for everything to die.

The living run for their homes,
wings flap, paws patter, chimneys lit afire.
Sunlight wanes giving in to darkness, we all pause to consider regret.
The end is near, the cycle of death celebrates, recruiting us all in secret.

In this time of need,
our hour of greatest despair.
We look to the north and see comfort there.

For all of our failings, in all of its subtleties,
we let pass our weakness and welcomed our demons.
The summer sun let us forget, while the fruits of the fall made us grow fat.
We laughed while we aged and slowly watched our life lines grow flat.

In the darkness while everything dies,
nothing to see in the great empty, we question our eyes.
Yet we gaze to the north with longing despair,
the blackness is pierced by a glow in the skies.

We remember he came.
We remember the hope.
We can re-enter a year and try to recycle our hurts and play our own parts,
We feel courage now and know that with him, it's never winter in our hearts.