I hear a lot of writers talk about their rituals–the process they go through every time they sit down to write, the steps they take before they put their fingers onto the keyboard.
I’ve never set anything up like this for myself. It helps me to have a cup of tea. This is probably mostly about giving my hands something to do while my mind is (hopefully) busy thinking. And I do need music, but it doesn’t seem to be connected in any way to the particular story I’m working on. It goes more with my mood–if I need something melodic in the background or something a little noisier to get my brain actually fired up. And, yes, probably Step #1 does need to be–for all of us–Shut Down the Internet, but I’m not quite there yet.
Anyway, I scanned around & came up with some links for us all to check out. I’d love to hear your rituals, too, in the comments!
- Karen Babcock made me laugh, which is always good!
http://www.karenbabcock.com/writingritual.shtml - Robin LaFevers uses a visual approach.
http://rllafevers.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-current-obssession.html - Lori Gloyd at Into the Blue discusses when she uses paper & pen and when she moves to the computer. She talks some about her writing space, as well.
http://lorigloyd.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/writing-rituals/ - J.R. Murdock talks about…oranges, over at sffworld.com.
http://www.sffworld.com/mul/115p0.html - Jennifer Louden at Comfort Queen describes her process of discovering her writing rituals.
http://www.comfortqueen.com/writing-again-the-ritual#more-1898
When you are ready to write, do you just sit down and dig in? Or are there specific steps that help you warm up and alert your brain that it’s time to start?
Becky Levine 