It's better than sex. Ok, I said it. I admit I said it. My writing friends have made fun of me for years over that comment. I have a tendency to exaggerate, but I wasn't far off the mark. Being in flow is a kind of heightened arousal, not unlike falling in love (or lust). All of your senses are sharper and there's kind of a manic edge to your thought processes. Everything connects to your work, everything feeds into your writing: every gesture other people make, every comment, every book you read, every TV show you see. Your synapses snap and your blood sings and it's just a wonderful thing.

But it's rare. With some projects you have to swim a long way out before you can catch that current (and sometimes you never do). Most writing is hard graft. But then there are those sublime times when you're in flow. And while maybe it's not better than sex, it's as least as good as sex. And not standard missionary position sex; I'm talking life-changing, fireworks exploding, blow-your-mind sex.

When Molly finally showed up, she dragged me into flow. I sat down to write those 20 pages for Nick Jose, and there she was. She came spilling out and just took over. Why hadn't she come earlier? Truthfully, I think I was blocking her. Real World Amy's life was too close to Molly's and when I tried to write all I got was my own life.