I’m a creature of habit and routine, anything outside of my realm of obssessive organisation either has to quickly find a sub-section to house itself within or freeze itself in suspended animation until it catches my eye again.
After writing for a few years and after my recent two week writing push, I became aware of a few writing rituals I perform before hitting the keyboard. None of them are particularly Haka-like in their intensity but I don’t feel comfortable behind my laptop without them.
I’ll have to divide them into two because I write in two places; at home and at a coffee shop.
Home Routine.
Make a cup of tea, adjust cushions on my garden chair and table which are located in the lounge because interior design orientated, I am not. Turn TV off, place tea next to laptop, fire up laptop and whilst it’s slowly waking up I check Twitter. 10 minutes later I decide on what music to play, this is usually ambient or deep/trance house music, then I read through the last few pages to get myself back into it. If I’m happy with the music and I know what I’m writing then off we go, if not, then I’ll stare into space searching for that starting place.
Coffee Shop.
Order espresso to wake myself up and a Liptons Peach Ice Tea to keep me going. Go upstairs in favoured coffee shop because it has proper tables and chairs and look for a seat against a wall – I have a paranoid fear of having anyone behind me when I have my laptop open, can’t stand it even though I have sat behind people with laptops and not been the remotest bit interested in what they’re doing. Then my music selection/reading past few pages/staring into space routine comes into play.
Nothing out of the ordinary there I don’t think, maybe the fact I always write with music playing. Never music with lyrics though, my singalong-in-my-head reflex is too weak and interrupts my thought process. Writing high tempo scenes with high tempo music is great, afterwards I always look around to see who’s looking at me bobbing up and down in my seat though.
What’s your routine?