The Flow of A 10,000-Plus Word Day

Feeling the Joy of Effortless Work

Can the feeling of flow be more rewarding than the money we get paid to write? It’s a tough call worth exploring, especially if you love to write as much as I do.

Flow is a funny thing. When you have it, you don’t want to stop what you’re doing. Yesterday, I felt the flow of a writer in the most beautiful way. But there is a cost and I feel it in my arms today. I’m writing despite the numbness in my right arm because I’m on a mission to get my new Ebook done.

Yesterday, the flow was so intense I crossed over the 10,000-word mark. Why not write about it? By 4:30 p.m. yesterday, I had been writing for a solid eleven hours. My butt was not sore because I have a great chair. But my arms were about ready to fall off from hammering the keyboard.

At 4:40 p.m. yesterday, I could not take the agony for one more minute even though I wanted to finish one big edit. My arms ached like after a big workout at the gym.

Reluctantly, I tore myself away from my Costco stand up desk in my tiny home office. UnderDog had already pushed his little nose and body through my office door. He plopped himself at my feet as if to say without words, “Dad, it’s time to grab the leash so I can stop staring at you sitting on your butt in your writing chair. Let’s walk!”

I grabbed the leash off the wall in the laundry room. We walked, and I felt great about my productivity, a 10,000-plus word day. “Wow, big day, I thought.”

Then, my brain attacks me, and suddenly a new wave of edits hits me. I have to turn around now! But UnderDog saved me from me. The wiser voice in my head says, “Cliff, the edits can wait. Enjoy your walk with UnderDog. Give it a break.”

Thanks to my buddy, the coolest rescue mutt ever, UnderDog pulls me along all of 14 pounds wet. Suddenly, the moment is not about me being a writer and needing to write more. No, that’s insane. One must have a life, also.

In this instant, I have empathy for UnderDog. His legs are roughly 1/100th of my length, even though I suck at math. I realize how important he is to me because he’s the dog who pried me away from my desk.

Pain Can Change Behavior

Today, my right arm is sorer than my left. I can’t figure out if it’s the recent Pickleball injury, or from tying all day yesterday. It’s as if my God is saying, “Dude, take a day off.”

How do you stop doing what you love, even if it hurts? We get paid to write. Therefore, we need to write. I can already feel my arms fading. It won’t eve help to adjust the desk.

My writing flow took new flood-level heights recently. It could be the new braining training program I’ve been doing, but I’m not sure. I am hopeful the program will help me as much as it does the pro athletes they train. But I’ve always been a legend in my mind, so I learn to get over myself.

The Routine of A Writer

Meet UnderDog Jones, the coolest rescue mutt ever, for me!

I’m in love with my writing routine. But it wasn’t always this way. I had to find my way over time, thousands of hours sitting, writing. Yesterday was one of the best flow days I’ve ever experienced.

My writing routine now starts earlier than before. I hit the keyboard between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. when it’s dark and silent. Even UnderDog has no interest in moving that early unless he has to pee. My wife sleeps in the room next to my office. I do my best not to let my typing sound like thunder.

I write every day, most of the day, when I’m not grazing standing up, scanning a book, or soaking up a binaural beat from a YouTube video to recharge my batteries. I indeed walk UnderDog once or more every day. And I do workout to keep my sanity.

Starting to write first thing in the morning has made the most significant difference in my creative output and writing. It’s winter now in Scottsdale, so my routine may change when the summer sun scorches us with 100-plus degree temperatures before 7 a.m. If I don’t work out early in the Summer months, I risk turning my entire epidermis into human beef jerky. Not good!

My current routine gets me writing first thing. My brain wakes up with a cup or two of coffee while I quickly scan the toxic, global news on the smartphone that sucks the life out of me. I scan my Medium feed, look for a few nuggets, drop a clap or two, leave a comment for a fellow writer, then move on.

I get to work distraction-free in my small home office. I grind, then brew and drink a small bucket of freshly-ground Guatemalan coffee. If I drink too much of my favorite roast, it’s much to the chagrin of my cool wife who wakes up hours later. Janice is very forgiving. I am a writer.

What Flow Feels Like

Flow to me feels like pedaling the most massive REI adventure bicycle into a headwind mile after mile. Then, all of a sudden, the tailwind kicks in. I’m flying along the road effortlessly. It’s a blissful feeling. I wonder if I deserve it, yet there is no time.

As a writer or artist, you know the feeling of flow. The words come through us as if they are not ours, seemingly from a higher power. We don’t want to stop writing. It’s the opposite of writer’s block.

When the flow kicks in on a great writing day, I don’t need much food or water. Air, yes. But I’m sitting on my butt in a chair for the entire day. I might as well eat a bucket of donuts because sitting that long is bad for human health. If you don’t believe me, read what the “Wellness Mama” has to say.

Effortless Work

Do you know the feeling of effortless work? I feel it now. I’m listening to a fantastic beat track, lost in my world while connected in some mysterious way to you right now as you read this (Hello! Thanks for reading my work. I’m grateful.)

Flow is powerful, seductive, always the temptress calling me back to my phone, writing chair, and desk. My brain fires what comes through it. None of these words are mine, and I’m not sure if it’s the collective conscious or the God of my limited understanding who helps me feel this way. But today, I know to accept the flow with extreme gratitude.

Getting Over My Guilt As A Writer

I remember when my work was painful, the opposite of effortless. I was growing my financial planning and investment advisory business as a younger man. Every time I “got lost” in the flow of writing a new sales letter, memo, or educational workshop before there was Powerpoint, I felt overwhelming guilt.

Here’s what my guilt said. “Cliff, what are you doing writing so much? Do you realize you’ve been working on this sales letter for over three hours? What’s wrong with you? You should be cold calling instead of writing! Remember what the Sandler sales trainer said about “pay time” and “no paid time?” He said you don’t get paid for writing you, f&*@ing idiot! Stop writing. Get back to work.”

Head trash can be a bitch. It sure used to be for me. But later in life, I learned I am a writer. So now, when I write, there is zero guilt or distraction. And this is how I find my bliss in the effortless work of making a living as a writer.

Thanks, mom, and dad, for encouraging me to be who I am; I love being a writer. And thanks to the Medium Staff who make it possible to get paid even more for writing.

This article was originally published at Medium, here.

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