How do you get the juices going? In class we discussed this. Some people have to have absolute quiet, uninterrupted time. That's not always easy to come by, though. I like to clear my desk, it's just a metaphor, my desk is never clear. I just like to know that I have taken care of the humdrum things so that I won't have a voice in my head saying "You really should be doing . . ."
As a real estate consultant who works from a home office where I also write, I have to be sure to seperate the two. Fortunately, I come from a culture that includes making the sign of the cross. No, I do not bless myself before writing, but I have the distinct feeling of now I am in prayer and now I am out of prayer. For writing I use Tibetan chimes, the little gongs connected with a leather strap. "Chime" now I am writing and "chime" now I am done writing. I do not check emails, the news or other distractions between chimes.
I have a writer friend who wears one of her husband's old shirts in her writing time. This sounded good to me, but since I don't have a husband I went to the Goodwill to buy an old shirt. I came out of there with a shirt I didn't really like, but did get a table and chairs I still have a few years later. The shirt I eventually donated back to Goodwill.
What rituals do you have?
2 comments:
I have a "writing chair," the one Mot left when he took off. I don't sit in it, although I had intended to. Instead, it sits facing me while I write. For reasons unknown to me, it helps me particularly to look at it when I'm trying to recreate dialogue.
I like this. It's also new to me. No one else has come up with something like that. Thanks.
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