The Feeling That Writers Live For

I remember the first time it happened: I was sitting in my parents' computer room (yes, we call it that) in high school. I remember my mom coming to the door to ask me something, but I didn't hear her. Why? I wasn't there. Not really.Where was I? I was at Camelot High (for the record, I wrote this novel before Meg Cabot wrote Avalon High #justsayin #ishouldhavesubmittedittoanagent). Lance and Arthur were in the middle of a huge fight over Gwen. The bookshelves in the computer room didn't exist (nor my mom's request); all that was real was the fight on the porch.I eventually had to leave the world to go to a party with a friend. I remember feeling like my friend and her car were from my imagination and what I left behind was what was real.This is the feeling writers live for.Unfortunately, it gets harder and harder to feel the older I get.Why?I think there are two major reasons. 1) I am more worried about what other people will think. I know I am sending my next manuscript out to agents, so I am very aware of them reading it. 2) I don't have the same stretch of uninterrupted time that I had as a kid.While I have been doing mindset work for the first problem, I have made some room in my calendar to help fix the second problem.Yesterday, I spent three hours working on my book. You know what? The feeling returned. I felt like I was sitting in a booth at a pizza parlor playing a video game instead of my sunroom with my corgi.I know people preach about writing in fifteen minute sprints (heck, I do it myself), but there really is value in letting yourself get lost in the world of your book by chunking off a good portion of time to write. You don't really get that magical feeling in fifteen minutes, but you can in at least an hour.I challenge you to block off at least an hour in your calendar to write. Then go into the comments, and let me know how it went!