I Did It My Way

All of us have routines in our everyday lives.

For example: The 6:00 am alarm goes off. Wake up, sit on end of bed, scratch yourself, wiggle toes, go to bathroom, brush teeth 24 times each side of mouth, spit, gargle, shower, sing first part of Bohemian Rhapsody in shower, towel dry, get dressed, put shoes on—left first, then right—and off to work with bagel and/or strawberry toaster pastry. Some people call this a routine, to others it’s a ritual. (I personally refer to it as my daily trip to the Pit of Despair, otherwise known as my job.)
In spite of our individual differences, we all tend to have developed natural habits within our daily lives. So many of our activities have instructions to follow as we undertake whatever task it may be. Unless you’re a man…in which case, of course, instructions are optional. Just like asking for directions.
Life is full of things we do so much it becomes second nature. A, B, C, D…A, B, C, D…and so on, ad infinitum.
This train of thought took me down the tracks to a place where I started thinking about what I do to get in the mood to write. Do I have quirks and routines I follow to start a story? What are they? And does every writer do the same sort of thing, or is each a prey to their own rituals?
I’m very much a mood writer, so I prefer low light, at night, without any noise. Sometimes I’ll play a little music, but at a very soft low volume, strictly in the background.  Okay, it seems like I am going on a date with myself. And yes, this suddenly turned just a little bit awkward. But as long as I get a goodnight kiss I’ll be okay.
Since my self-dating writing ritual can probably be described as unique, I thought I’d ask some of my writer friends about their rituals. Do they have any particular setting/habit/requirement before getting down to putting words on the page? I was very happy to see so many great responses. Here they are—my thanks to these awesome writers for sharing a personal revelation for this article.

Read the entire article in the Dec/Jan 2018-19 issue of InD'Tale magazine.

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