What Writers Love Above All Else

Okay, maybe not more than writing a bestseller

Are any of you musicians? If I’m reincarnated, I’d like to come back as a stadium-packing, mega musical star. It’s not the fame I’m interested in, it’s the experience of losing myself in creating something while simultaneously enjoying immediate positive feedback from thousands of enraptured fans.

My dream of being a rock star is about getting a chance to live a life that’s a thrilling contrast to my current reality, while also tapping into experiences I value. Two things I’m always searching for in my professional life are 1) getting into a state of “flow,” 2) sharing something meaningful with the world.

So, what is flow?

The term was coined in the ’70s by the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi: it’s a focused mental state highly conducive to productivity. In his Ted Talk he explains the experience is so intense that it almost feels as if you don’t exist — you’re in an ‘ecstatic’ state. There’s something magical and slightly scary about being in a state of flow, and it’s the holy grail. It doesn’t happen all that often and when it does it fuels me for months on end.

If I feel flow while writing or researching all on my own, I can only imagine how it would feel if I were performing in front of tens of thousands of fans who are bouncing love and appreciation right back at me. Yes, please, I’ll take some of that!

There’s something magical and slightly scary about being in a state of flow. It doesn’t happen all that often and when it does it fuels me for months on end.

Have you experienced flow?

Csíkszentmihályi argues that the sense of focus and purpose created by flow contributes more to our levels of happiness than money or love. So while creatives can’t necessarily count on getting recognition or payment, we can look forward to experiencing flow periodically. It makes the uncertainty of the artistic life worth it.

By the way, if you’re looking for a twisty, sexy and surprisingly thought-provoking film, check out A Bigger Splash with Tilda Swinton as a megawatt rock star who’s trying to rest her voice on holiday in Italy but has to contend with her kooky ex (Ralph Fiennes), and his daughter (Dakota Johnson), who’s hellbent on seduction and mayhem.

Music producers are almost as cool as rock stars

Since I never played with Barbies, when the movie came out I wasn’t especially excited. Soon, however, I became intrigued by all the press about it, and — like millions of others — I went to see it.

I loved it. How do you create a movie about the patriarchy without sh*tting on men? Well, Greta Gerwig did it!

Listening to Terry Gross’s Fresh Air interview with Mark Ronson, the music producer who put together the score for Barbie, was totally riveting. Music is so collaborative, so immediate, and (somewhat like writing) the process is often intuitive. I’m intrigued by how musicians and music producers turn vague inspiration into songs that have visceral and lasting impact.

What does it take to strike the right balance between what people want to hear and what you want to say? I was intrigued by Ronson’s stories about learning to make the music support (rather than dominate) the film. Also, he talks about how his experience of music changed once he had children. Beautiful.

"When you're making a pop song, you're constantly thinking of hooks and melodies and ear candy," he says. And while all of those elements are important to the songs that made it to the soundtrack, he knew the movie's background music shouldn't be a distraction: "You're there to support the emotional undertow of the film at that moment." Mark Ronson

Thoughts on writing

Flow has not been part of my life this summer. I’m thrilled to be in Key West again, getting back into a productive writing routine. I cleaned up my office, sorted my notebooks, found and stacked my index cards, cleared the cork board, moved my old books so I could bring in the new ones…

Out go the books on brain science and Ibiza. In go the books on Japan! The corkboard is ready for new pictures - I kept this one image of the keys because what's better than: "Having guts always works out for me" and "Actually doing the things I set out to do increases my satisfaction"??

(The key/ dogtag art I love so much is by Stefan Sagmeister.)

And for those of you newer writers looking for insights into the current publishing landscape, check out the podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Chock-a-block full of great information.

A word on world events

I want to acknowledge that after pressing send, I instantly realized this topic was not a good choice for right now. I am horrified by the massacre of civilians in Israel, which also happened at a music festival, and I am horrified about the death of Palestinian civilians. Sorry. Timing is everything, and I’m still learning and growing.