Rituals are cool
I love rituals. (Not the animal-sacrifice kind.)
They soothe my anxiety and boost my confidence much like my pitbulls reduce my nail biting and Pitbull’s songs increase my energy.
I have a lot of rituals… My morning routine is a ritual. My bedtime routine is a ritual. Even my writing routine is a ritual.
My writing routine is sophisticatedly simple. All I do is:
-Open up my notebook. (I’m switching to a digital notebook, so no more dead trees for me.)
-Grab a colored pen. (I have 10 to choose from which is down from almost 30. Because I procrastinate picking out the right color to match my mood.)
-Open my can of Coke. (Room temp, please.)
-Turn on some old music. (The songs that I know all the lyrics by heart. Because learning new lyrics is distracting.)
-Write. (Even if it’s just gibberish and doodles at first.)
And boom… this ritual kicks my brain into writing gear.
Other writers have rituals, too.
One writes with a blindfold on. (To silence their inner critic because they can’t actually see the words.)
Another writes with a cigarette dangling out of their mouth. (Even though they’re a nonsmoker, the sensory activity focuses their thoughts.)
These rituals all have one commonality — they’re simple, and they trigger the brain into writing mode.
Do you have a writing ritual? I’d love to hear about it.
Don’t have a writing ritual? I can help you create one in Drool-Worthy Copy. Check it out here.
