The Writer's Hunch
Intuition is a way to access our best ideas and find that flow state
I knew how the chapter should begin, but I edited myself early. The result was a dull, drippy chapter and head-smacking frustration.
So I trusted my gut, went back to what I felt all along, and revised the chapter using a more conversational voice and practical, read-on-the-fly structure. The book became something better.
I often call on my intuition in writing and in life because it’s a useful way to clear through mental clutter. But it takes time to trust it.
When something feels right, it’s often the skills and knowledge we’ve acquired over the years showing up without our awareness. We feel it. Or get a sense of knowing out of nowhere. But it’s been growing inside of us all along.
When we write without overthinking or micromanaging every aspect of the process, our creative intuition becomes more available, and ideas are easier to access, according to research led by Steven Kotler.
By allowing ourselves to write—particularly in early drafts—without editing, intuition can help us generate fresh ideas, clear patterns, and new twists. That builds excitement and energy and can shift us into a flow state.
How to Strengthen It
Practice. Experiment. Explore and play. Read and write with curiosity. Notice patterns in your own work. Pay attention to what happens when you trust your sense of knowing—and when you don’t. Over time, you’ll see how intuition supports your work and learn to welcome it as part of your creative process.
Try This
To practice, spend five minutes a day on low-stakes writing. Five minutes without distraction, without pausing to question, judge, or edit. Sit down, write. Notice how that feels.
Intuition isn’t magic. It’s just another tool we can use to access our creative energy and find flow in our process.
Now, sit down and simply, write.
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You’ve heard author, television producer and speaker Paula Rizzo on the Simply Write w/Polly podcast talking about how to build your platform with media opportunities. But that’s a practice that is not intuitive to most of us. This is when we need training to maximize our airtime and sell more books.
Paula has a fantastic class available to you, and since we’ve been talking a lot about building an authentic platform on this site and on the podcast, it seems like a no-brainer to let you know about it.
COURSE: Media-Ready Author: Speak in Soundbites, Set Up Your Virtual Studio, and Sell More Books.
Media-Ready Author is a self-paced online course that helps authors and experts feel confident, clear, and prepared for media opportunities of all kinds—TV, video, podcasts, live events, book signings, and more. Hundreds of authors have taken the program, which is based on Paula Rizzo’s nearly two decades as a television producer in New York City and years of working 1:1 with authors. Paula has trained authors and experts for publishers including Hachette, HarperCollins, Time Inc., The New York Times, and Dow Jones. The course teaches authors how to clarify their message, create strong soundbites, and show up polished and professional whenever they’re talking about their work. Find out more here at Media-Ready Author.