My Writing Practice
5:30 AM is usually difficult on Mondays because I’ve spent the whole weekend sleeping in and drinking (I don’t drink during the weekdays). But I can usually pull myself out of bed by reminding myself I get to work on my story—and coffee is just a few minutes away.
French Press coffee became a part of my ritual when I realized I like the taste better than the coffee pot coffee and would be able to eliminate sugar from my morning brew if I made it French press. I grind my own beans, which I purchase from my favorite coffee shop one block from my apartment (someday, I want to have a book signing at my favorite coffee shop).
Meditation follows the coffee making. There are many days I want to skip the meditation part and go right to the writing part. I don’t, because I know giving myself ten minutes to clear my mind, gives my brain more space for the creative process. (But sometimes this is really hard, because my time to write is so limited).
Hand writing in my journal became a part of my practice years ago. When I’d get stumped on my project, I’d pull out a journal and start to write whatever random words came to my mind: dog, fart, harp, chord, dead, head, lady, works, dumb, ass. Usually this randomness starts the kettle boiling and I can get back to the writing project. Now, I just begin the day with hand-writing. And sometimes, other writing comes out of it—stuff like this post.
Writing my story (whichever one I’m working on) has always brought me joy. I can get lost in it most days. But I’ll have some days where I get a little stuck. I always keep my phone tucked out of the way and turn off the internet so I won’t get distracted. I write every day. In the same place, for roughly the same amount of time. Sometimes I write twenty words. Sometimes 200. Sometimes 1,000. The goal is to just write something.
I don’t always write in chronological order, either.
Celebrating is important to my practice. I celebrate small accomplishments and large accomplishments and try to replace any negative emotions directed at my progress with some sort of positive encouragement. I’m really into celebrating.
Bonus days, I won’t have any other personal things to work on during my lunch break from my day job, and I’ll do some more writing. I don’t however, write at night. I try to power off all electronics by 8:30PM. Or else, my mind will be spinning with ideas and I won’t be able to go to sleep.
There are other parts of my process that are not actually the physical act of writing. Reading books of all genres I enjoy. Watching TV shows with witty dialogue and cool actions scenes. Talking to friends who work in the creative field. Exercise. Trying new foods. All of this lends itself to the creative process. It’s more of a lifestyle than a job.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash