I first experienced “being in the zone” when I was about 15, living in Lexington, KY.

There was a guy whose younger brother that I knew who had the paper route for the Louisville morning newspaper, who asked me if I would want to deliver the newspapers in my neighborhood, and I did this. Probably for a year or so.

So, every day, I got up at 6:00am, and I rode my bike to the corner of Andover Drive, and Cooper Drive, and I delivered newspapers to the people who subscribed to the Louisville newspaper. This wasn’t every house. I’m not sure how long it took me to learn the route. Starting out he gave me a list of addresses, and after a while I didn’t have to go by the list. I knew which houses got the newspapers. I think it took me about 45 to deliver the newspapers.

Here’s the route:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Andover+Dr,+Lexington,+KY+40502/1725+Lakewood+Dr,+Lexington,+KY+40502/@38.0155921,-84.486861,16z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x88425b2b41118875:0x15f7d8ef9c711da!2m2!1d-84.484554!2d38.0173739!1m5!1m1!1s0x88425b28647adf5b:0x7149df6b3598f8ec!2m2!1d-84.4823221!2d38.0084176!3e0?hl=en

One morning while I was delivering newspapers … something happened.

It was like I’d been asleep…

And, I had just waken up ….

And, I was almost at the end of my route.

I couldn’t remember delivering any of the newspapers.

I didn’t know what to think.

It scared me.

So, I backtracked several houses on my route and found that I’d delivered newspapers to them.

It scared the shit out of me.

I didn’t know what to think.

Well, back then, I was one of two student managers of the University of Kentucky football team.

That afternoon … I told the team’s trainer, who I was really close to, what had happened.

He said, Max … you were in the zone.

I said, What’s that?

He said, No one knows.

But, when you’re in the zone you can do incredible things.

It happens often in basketball.

Basketball players say that when they’re in the zone … they see the basket and it’s huge.

They can make shots when they’re in the zone that they have no chance of making when they’re not in it.

They say that it’s a very strange feeling.

Years later, technically, I found that being in the zone is called “Flow.”

See this article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

No one knows what it is.

I’ve been in the zone a few times when I’m writing.

There are fiction writers who say that the novels they have written have written themselves. They have no idea where the stories they wrote came from.

I think Dave, Bob, and Nick were in the zone when they made their albums.

It may have happened with John… I don’t know.

But, I think pretty much that the spell was broken when Dave left the Trio.

I think they were deep in the zone when they made Going Places because it is not like any of the other albums..

Or, it could have been Buckwheat.

It was said that Buckwheat was who turned them on to drugs.

I was in the zone when Jackee and I had our first date ....






Max