Writing Rituals

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Writer's block is something that plagues many writers -- more than will admit it I'd bet. Some can honestly sit down and start typing and magically the pages fill up with words. Others sit down, stare at a blank screen for several minutes, fidget, play a game (or thirty) of solitaire, and finally give up and go do something productive.

For those of us not blessed with the ability to just sit and write, what can we do? Do we wait for inspiration to strike? Do we pray to the writing gods to hit us with a bolt of creative power?

No.

What I've done is quite simple. I've set up a series of pre-writing rituals that get me into the writing and creative mood I require to actually write. "How do I do this?" You're asking. I'll tell you.

I had trouble writing. I would sit down with a brilliant idea; a concept that needed to get out of my head. I knew the beginning, the end, and was certain the middle would write itself. I would type two or three words and motivation would escape me. I was desperate to get these ideas out of my head. But I had burnt up all my inspiration just sitting down to type.

One day I sat down and before I started writing I cut up two oranges. I took my time and organized my thoughts before I started typing. Once I was done eating, I washed my hands and my face and cracked my knuckles and BAM! I was writing.

The next day I didn't eat the oranges and had trouble getting started. So I got up, got a couple oranges, did the same steps as the day before and BAM! I was writing.

I did this everyday for a week. Each day I was able to sit down and write. The words flowed. It was hard to stop them from coming out at one point.

The following week, I figured if I ate oranges, why not a big breakfast? So I had eggs, bacon, toast, and juice. Nothing happened. I couldn't type. I had thought having the juice would help, but my brain wouldn't work. I gave up after twenty games of solitaire.

The next day I was back to the oranges. I stayed on this for two weeks and each day I was able to write. But the 'ritual' was too time-consuming. I tried to exclude the oranges (just washing my hands and face and cracking my knuckles) but that was no good. So I decided I'd get the oranges, but not cut them up. It was the smell! Just smelling the oranges got me into that creative 'state' that allowed the words to come out.

I didn't want to carry oranges around with me everywhere I went though. That'd be silly. What's a struggling writer to do? I performed a technique called 'pegging'. I pegged my creative 'state' to a certain hand movement - looping my thumbs and index fingers to make an infinity symbol.

It worked.

Now I can sit down at the computer, make my infinity symbol and I'm writing. There was one pitfall though. "A pitfall?" you ask. Why yes.

I write on an empty stomach. I discovered that no matter how hard I would try, if I ate anything other then fruits, veggies, or chicken, I had trouble getting into 'state' to be able to write. And beer was right out. Once I had a couple in me, my mind would drift too far to be able to write anything coherent.

So I discovered that my best writing time is early in the morning, before I had anything to eat, and to get me prepared, I had a ritual where I would form my infinity symbol with my hands and I was ready to write.

What does all of this mean to you? It means that if you're like me, you need to find out what it is about yourself that gets you ready to write. If you're lucky enough to be able to sit and type, more power to you. I'm not that lucky.

My suggestion:

Step 1: To start, don't eat anything heavy before you write. You'll bog down your body and sap all your energy to digesting. Free your body and don't eat (or drink) anything that'll weigh you down.

Step 2: Do something every time you sit down to write. For me, it was my oranges at first. It was a lengthy ritual, but it helped me get the job done.

Step 3: Refine your ritual. Take steps to pare down the number of steps it takes you to get into the writing mood and actually write. If you find you're having difficulty, add steps back in, but always perform them in the same order.

So if you're suffering from writer's block, difficulty getting started, or just not able to form the words the way you would like, try to find your own pre-writing ritual.