The other night, I was listening to my favorite talk radio program, Coast 2 Coast AM and George Noory took a phone call from a guy that was a professional bowler. During the phone call, the caller described a famous bowler who described the feeling of being in the groove, also known as being in the zone. This famous bowler described the feeling of being in the groove as a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest.
Anytime this bowler would experience this feeling, he would bowel a perfect game. I have noticed myself during a few blogging sessions of feeling like being in the zone. During those times of feeling like I’m on top of the world has produced some of my best writing. It’s almost a natural high feeling, making me think I am invincible or something.
At any rate, what I would like to know from you is what it feels like when you catch yourself in the groove. What sort of emotions or physical feelings do you attribute to this feeling and what were the results of your work after the feeling goes away?
Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff 
Being in the zone is the best thing that can happen to you when you are writing, coding or designing. Everything just works, or if it doesn’t it comes to you.
I think of it like a movie. You remember that movie Hackers with Jonny Lee-Miller? The penultimate scene is where the storylines converge. With Prodigy playing loud, every hacker in the world is launching attack affter attack after attack; keyboards are being pounded; it is just a torrent of activity, where everthing is going as planned, better even than could have been imagined.
When you are in the groove your typing speed exceeds the drum beats on Voodoo People and it is inssessant, you don’t need to stop, or come up for air, or food (caffeine sometimes). It’s a rush; every time you hit enter is harder and more flamboyant than the last time. At times you even want to spin round on your chair as the song hits a break then start all over as your chair comes back round.
Then the song stops, you are kicked out of the system, you hit a wall, you come down and start getting withdrawal symptoms for a feeling that won’t come back. You go watch T.V., lie in the bath, crash out, go for a walk, anything but go near the keyboard because your inspiration is gone and you know that a long slog is all that awaits you.
Andrews last blog post..lies, damn lies, and statistics
@Andrew – Damn Andrew, you pretty much summed up my experiences with being in the groove. I agree, it’s the best thing that could happen to anyone at any time in regards to whatever it is they are doing. This could be playing sports, writing, or anything else that requires skill. I remember one evening when I went to a LAN party to play Quake 3 with a bunch of friends. I don’t know what was in the pizza but I was in the zone that entire evening. Nobody could kill me and I was sniping everyone with the railgun almost as if I were an aim bot, I’ll never forget that evening.
But you know, when the feeling is gone, it’s gone. However hard you try to get it back, it doesn’t. Instead, you have to go through the sluggishness of life until at some random time, the feeling returns.
Wow…..I want Andrew’s groove….his sounds much better than my own…….
For me it’s just a flowing of words that sound so right together that I can hardly believe they are coming from my brain…..it almost seems easier to believe I’m channeling some brilliant writer from the past…. but everything seems to just work perfectly – opening, telling the story, making the point, and wrapping it all up neatly…..throw in some beautiful allegories and a few alliterations……it makes me daydream about quitting my day job and becoming a professional writer…..
But of course it doesn’t always go that way, and I know I’d probably have a hard time making a living at it, so I wisely decide to wait until I retire to start my great novel.
When it’s gone, I play some computer games, get some excercise, or go shopping to keep my mind off of how it feels to NOT be in that zone.
@Trisha – I’ve also felt that same experience. Writing as if it were no problem, everything mixes well together and the typos seem to disappear. I love those days where I can write one of those long winded posts that makes the point and wraps up nicely. There has got to be a way to do that on a regular basis :)
I usually find a few beers make me get into the zone. At least I think I’m in the zone. I used to get in the zone while video gaming periodically. Things would be going so great until one of my teammates named 0wn4g3 would teamkill me. I’d get upset, and then that would take me out of my zone. Nowadays, I just follow him around and spam his blog as payback.
@DHH – LOL!! Funny how it all comes around sooner or later……. a few beers makes me a much better bowler, which is where Jeff started with this! I start out throwing gutter balls, then a few beers later and I’m rolling strikes, baby! I’m not sure if it helps my writing, but it sure makes me THINK I’m a better writer too…… :D