Okay. So the pressure's on. I'm in a situation where I've been asked to produce my "Pulitzer Prize Winning Moment" for a piece of writing I'm going to have published this year in one of my favorite publications.

Pressure? Oh, just a little. The editor likes the draft I submitted, but wants me to produce a new introduction that's more "sensational". Something from deep inside. What I *WANT* people to know about the subject, and not what I think *SHOULD* be written about the subject. He wants me to be creative as all get-out and have fun.

I know I can do it. I know, when I get into that "zone", that I can throw something together that'll wow 'em. The big problem is getting INTO that zone.

For those of you who write, how do you get into your headspace? How do you put on the writing hat? What gets you in that space where you're feverishly throwing yourself into creating something, and enjoying the process?

Here's what I used to do: I used to clean my apartment from top to bottom while listening to my favorite music. Then I'd take a nice, long, hot shower and then heat up a big pot of tea or coffee. Then I'd put on something mellow and instrumental, then go to town.

I might try that. I kinda wanna be in that funky/goofy/random/experimental frame of mind, too. I'll know the perfect words when I see them spit out on the screen. I know they're in here somewhere. I just have to figure out how to find 'em.

So...what do you do to find 'em?

Sometimes I just dive right in like a Mad Man telling myself that I can't continue with anything else until this is done and done right. And I just pull from what I see in front of me or what ever inspired me last.

Somethings are not as simple like when I'm taking dictation from someone telling me exactly what they want.

Sometimes I go into a fevorish crazed working spree as though my family depended on it! Well sometimes it's kinda true and call upon whatever last arguement I had with my wife regarding money or why we don't have our own house yet or think of all the times someone told me I can't. Kinda like: "I'm gonna kick your ass with this. I'll show 'em."

Not nessisarily in a negative fasion although it's kinda my way to take all the negativity that's been delt to me and spin it around into something possitive. It kinda puts me into overdrive and I've worked some pretty seemingly impossible tasks that way.

Get some scented candles, sourround yourself with seven white roses, drink some raspberry tea, listen to some Verdi or Tchaikovsky, rid your self or distractions or interruptions and let the creativity flow...

Anxiety said:

If you have to ask for it, then you haven't got it.

Yeah I'm not sure WTF 23 is talking about but this is about writing under a deadline and pushing creativity out like a trained monkey which is something I'm well versed at.

My

Everyone has their own thing that gets them there. I used to use caffeine or go the opposite with but now it is all just me with focus and intensity but I've really got to want to do it. More than just want, need to do it. If I don't, I've got to ask myself if it's a paying gig and I'll be as creative as I can and self-edit with a fresh set of eyes after I've walked from it for a few hours.

Number23 said:

i've got it. i think when you quit learning and asking questions, you lose it.

Slave2daGroove said:

you know, the pressure of a deadline can do wonders for my creativity. the whole rush of having to stay up all night to crank something out at the last minute has inspired better work from me than work that i stretch out over weeks and finish ahead of schedule. i think my imagination is stubborn - either i get ideas when it feels like feeding 'em to me, or it waits until the last possible moment to feed me a crumb or two.

and yeah, i know, 'you need self-discipline', blah blah blah. yeah, well. okay. that's good for writing pitch letters and transcribing interview tapes and cleaning up the transcription, etc. - but i've yet to figure out how to 'discipline' my imagination. it does what it wants.

as for 'stimulants', i won't go farther than mr. coffee or a fresh pot of yerba mate. but if i don't have one or the other of those substances when i'm writing - especially against a deadline - there's gonna be trouble.

This is a rather sensitive topic for. I enjoy writing so much, all kinds of writing, and I've won some prizes with the poems I wrote. My final dissertation was pretty good, and written under much pressure.

It's really the thing that I enjoy the most, and I know that when something gets me going, it's not going to be just average....

BUT...

During the last few years I've always written the best things after smoking weed and preferably being in a very chaotic situation, you know, almost messy situations which are not good for your health but make you feel alive...

grab your throat etc.

I would love to be able to write when I'm calm, but it is so hard for me to get really calm, and even much harder to write on moments like that.

I mean, right now I have a lovely boyfriend, a cat snoring on my lap etc... I feel quite good but I'm writing nothing decent at all.

At the same time people are asking me to publish (not poetry but hell, yeah, still...) in a magazine, and I would love to do that. But I'm just not happy with what I've been writing during the last year, not all!

Sorry Anxiety, I haven't been helping I guess, I suppose I had to whine and complain a little.

Well, creative writing with a deadline is what I've been doing for a living for the last 8 years. All I can say is: If you've prepared properly (i.e. know all you need to know about the subject) THAT moment will come eventually and before the deadline and when it's there, you'll know. Then just start typing away like crazy, don't edit anything, just let it come out warts and all and edit it later. Keep the RHYTHM of it going. See, if you knwo how to write, getting the info in there is no problem. What you need is a rhythm, a flow, the way one piece of information leads to the other. DO"N'T sweat the first line. In fact, strat out with a totally crap first line, yopur perfect first line wil probably be somewhere in the second paragraph of the first draft.

Carry a notebook if you're in public transport a lot. While waiting for the miracle to happen, do stupid, practical stuff or visit forums on the internet , I don't find anything inspiring except deadlines and going to the bathroom, really. Usually that's where I am when inspiration hits!

hectim said:

This part I do all the time. I have a microcassette recorder in the car, so ideas get jotted down immediately. It's something about moving around that makes my creative juices flow.

Good luck, Anx.

thanks for all the thoughts. i do try my best to have a notebook on me at all times. it really helped when i was preparing for my last interview, because questions were popping into my head pretty much non-stop, and i needed to get them down before i forgot 'em.

the story's going well - i'm in my third draft of it right now, and we're just working on making the intro flow a bit more - just little nits and touches. for the most part, i think it's done, and now i just have to wait for it to hit newsstands. i promise, when publication nears, i'll let everyone know where to find the story. i'd love to get some feedback on it!

Interesting subject. I wish I had something to add.
O.K... I think personally: passion, adrenalin, induced paranoia, inspiration, paper, nice pens,( My fetish); and: Your way of getting into the ZONE. You might need to just "do it", and by trial and error re-discover what circumstances create the environment you need; as you've obviously been there before
I look forward to reading the end product!

Wow, the age old question.

My most inspired moments come after I've glutted myself on experimental film, stories, plays, art, music all mashed in together so the thoughts ricochet around until my own voice rises out from the din with passion. The more exposure to art I get, the more mundane it all seems and THEN my true voice busts through with something genuinely energetic and original.

It also works to motivate me if there's an audience ready or a class to present to or something. There's a little ego involved and I thrive when I have an opportunity to show off. Just rip through the routine and blow their minds!!! Be a diva!!!

Glad to know it's coming together Anxiety. I should listen to my own advice as I've been creatively bland lately.