We all have them. Those little rituals we do, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about it. Athletes are notorious for having carefully repeated rituals they use before every game to help them perform at their peak. Most of us have a ritual of one kind or another that we undertake when we wake up in the morning, even if that ritual is hitting the snooze button.
Writers are no exception to this and there are plenty of stories out there about writers with unusual or quirky writing rituals. Ernest Hemmingway woke up at midnight every day to write The Old Man and the Sea while standing up at his typewriter. Other rituals have ranged from lying down drinking coffee, writing an entire novel on 3×5 notecards, or renting a hotel room and asking that the TV and everything from the walls be removed and a bottle of sherry be left on the desk.
My own writing rituals have changed a lot over time. Years ago I had a very simple ritual for writing; wake-up, eat something, set water on for tea, move my laptop out to the porch and start writing. This ritual was used mostly during the summer months in college when I had all the time in the world to write. Today other demands on my time (pesky things like a day job) prevent me from using that particular ritual every day. So my rituals have had to change.
My ritual now involves: fix something to drink (this is still frequently but not always a pot of tea), decide on a comfortable writing location and move my laptop there, pace for a few minutes thinking about what I’m going to work on, sit down at the computer and drape my weighted lap pad over my legs, start writing. Still simple, but with the advantage of not being tied to specific location or time of day.
What is the purpose of having a writing ritual like this? Successful writers use their rituals to take the chance out of productivity. A ritual when repeated for a frequent task like writing becomes rote. You start to do it without really thinking about it and before you know it you don’t have to force yourself to do it anymore. In other words, it becomes a habit.
Some research has shown that it takes an average of 23 days of doing something every single day for that thing, whatever it is, to become habit (of course this number can vary widely from person to person). So in theory if you follow a writing ritual for a month, pretty soon you’ll be writing every day without even having to make yourself sit down and do it. At that point writing stops being a matter of “I’m hoping to write at least this much this month” and becomes “I know I’m going to write at least this much this month”.
However there is a darker side to rituals. No I’m not talking about dark magic or summoning demons…well, not in the literal sense anyway. The dark side of writing rituals is twofold. Firstly when we become so focused on the ritual that we lose track of the writing. If your ritual is so long and involved that by the time you actually get around to the writing part it’s already time to go to work, then guess what? You are no longer performing a writing ritual. You are procrastinating.
Secondly when we give a force outside ourselves control over our creativity. This is what’s happening when, for example, a person claims they can only write when it’s raining. This would be fine if you could control the weather. Since I’m assuming you can’t control the weather however, this ritual is ineffective. (If you are one of these people who thinks they can only write when it’s raining, consider purchasing a small circulating fountain to provide a nice watery background noise whenever you need it)
How does one avoid the dark side of writing rituals? Here are a few pointers to bear in mind:
- K.I.S.S. Keep it simple silly. If your ritual is overly complex you will by necessity become too focused on it to have the proper focus for writing. The Exception: Some people are really good at shifting their focus between tasks, but not so good at establishing their focus in the first place. If you are one of these people a more complex ritual might be just what you need to get your focus established before shifting it over to your writing.
- Keep it productive. Especially in the case of rituals that occur before a writing session, it is very easy to fall into the trap of spending too much time on your ritual and losing your precious writing time in the process. Try to keep your pre writing session ritual no more than about five or at the most ten minutes. The Exception: If your ritual is to exercise for thirty minutes before writing then go for it! Exercise is not only good for you health wise, and therefore never a waste of time, but the increased blood flow will help you stay focused and be creative.
- Make it work for you. The temptation is always there to copy the writing rituals of famous authors. After all it worked for them, right? But just because some successful writers work better lying down or with pencils on notecards doesn’t mean you need to. Remember that one of the main reasons for Ernest Hemmingway’s ‘stand up at the typewriter’ ritual was that he was following a done by noon, drunk by three schedule and needed to keep himself awake through the writing process. Of course you should feel free to try on some famous authors rituals and see if they might be a good fit when modified to your tastes, but the important thing is not to flat out copy them and find whatever works for you to make you more productive.
- Don’t stress over the ritual. If one day you just don’t have the energy to run your usual ten laps around the block before you sit down to write, don’t let it get to you. Try to just sit down and write anyway and your comforting ritual will still be there when you need/want it.
- Be willing to change your rituals. Everyone’s life changes. This is simply a fact of being alive. Sometimes when your life changes your rituals can stay comfortingly the same. Sometimes though, as I’ve experienced, your life changes in a way that necessitates changing up your rituals a bit to accommodate. Try to be flexible and accept the idea of changing up your rituals as a chance to freshen your work and get a new perspective. Resistance to change is natural but don’t fight it so hard that you hurt yourself in the process.
Fellow writers, what rituals do you use to help yourself stay on track with your work? Have you ever found that a ritual you were using wasn’t effective or was actually hurting you instead of helping? Discuss in the comments!
