E31. Using Active Flow in Your Creative Practice: Here's How I Do It

Would you believe I didn't understand flow until recently? I could tell when it happened - it's that feeling when you lose track of time and your surroundings, and your creativity just flows - but I didn't know how to make it happen. It seemed like I had no control over when it did. I just had to hope I'd get lucky when I sat down to write. I was determined to figure out how to facilitate active flow so I could have more control over my creative process (if you're wondering why I call it "active" flow, it's because there's such a thing as passive flow - see Episode 26 about demystifying flow to learn about that!).

I started to research flow, and I discovered that there's a formula to it. I'm still learning and practicing (it's always a practice rather than a destination), but I now can reliably enter flow almost every time I sit down to write. It may only be for a few minutes - often even less than that! But flow shows up for me, and I'm relying on it to finish my novel this summer (10k words to go!).

In this episode you'll learn the formula for facilitating flow, what it looks and feels like, and its place in the creative process (it's not all about flow!). I talk about it from the lens of my own experience with it, so you'll hear about the specifics of my own creative practice in detail, even down to a scene I'm currently struggling with in my novel. Ultimately it's about making friends with flow, and I tell you how to start.

You can find the essay I mention about flow and discovery writing here.

The essay I mention about different types of resistance to creative practice is here.