Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has a theory of flow, which defines flow as “‘the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” (You can read more about it here).
For me, this is more than a theory, this was my reality as a fiction writer. I can’t begin to tell you the days, weeks, and months, I would lose with a project. This is how my creativity used to work:
- I would get a spark of an idea, scribble down a few notes, but chances are it will sit in my head from anywhere to a few months to years.
- Suddenly, for some unexplained reason, my creativity is ready, and the idea is ready to be born, all I have to do is sit down.
- I will start to work on the idea, not always in chronological order, allowing my creativity to dictate what to work on and when.
- Bliss. (more…)
The Stories of Scott D. Southard 