There’s a certain comfort in routine, don’t you think? A sureness that when you do things a certain way the outcome is virtually guranteed to be what you’re expecting. Alot of people ask me whether or not I wait for inspiration to write. Honestly, if I waited for inspiration all of the time I’d be serious behind on deadlines. Writing is, for me, a five day a week job and I try to work around four hours for each of those five days. Obviously, that doesn’t always happen. New bookitis being a case in point. But generally, when I’m writing I need to ‘get into the right state’ and I find my own little preparation rituals invaluable for this.
First, I need to close my office door. If I don’t I find, even when I’m home alone, that I make myself ‘mentally’ available to everyone else. The second thing I do is choose some pure essential oils to vapourise in my oil burner. The scents are generally different depending on what stage of my manuscript I’m up to and whether I’m doing new work or revising existing work. Finally, I switch on my fountain. It’s a very pretty miniature water fountain that sits on the top of my computer desk and is shaped like a hollow flame, with a glass orb in the centre that spins on the water being pumped through the bottom of the flame. There’s a kaleidoscope of light that refracts from beneath the orb and whenever I hit a flat spot in my writing, or even just need to take a writing ‘breath’ my eyes are always drawn to the fountain and before I know it I’m off again.
I find these things work really well for me, in fact I need to knuckle down and get stuck in now! So what about the rest of you. Do you have routines or rituals that help you achieve the things you set out to do?
I don’t know if my routine help me achieve anything. After I crawl out of bed(usually around 9:30-10:00)I turn on computer and go make coffee. By this time computer is booted up and I check my email. Those are checked, coffee is ready so I have breakfast and my coffee. Then it’s back to the computer (with coffee) and blog and websites to check. Today that routine is kind of blown because I’m doing laundry. I only had two loads so between computer time I had to keep going downstairs every 1/2 hour to switch. Then from 2-3 it’s soap opera time. Now I have to figure out a new routine on the night I watched a certain show on tv at night because it’s all reruns.
Comment by Christa — 24 May, 2007 @ 5:25 pm
Well, whether your routine helps you to achieve anything or not, I’m sure there is also comfort in the constancy of routine. It’s when you get bored or disgruntled with the routine that you look for where and how you can change it.
All the best!
Comment by yvonnelindsay — 27 May, 2007 @ 12:03 am
Squeel. I got Rossellini’s Revenge Affair today. Gorgeous cover. I could stare at that guy for days on end. I see late nights and lack of sleep in my future.
Comment by Christa — 29 May, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
You know of course this will knock any routine I may have had totally out of whack
Comment by Christa — 29 May, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
Oooh, Christa! I’m jealous! I haven’t received my author copies yet and of all my covers to date this one is my absolute favourite. That hero… yum!
Sorry to have knocked your routine, but hey, what a way to knock it!
Comment by yvonnelindsay — 29 May, 2007 @ 9:03 pm