Writing rituals: 3 lessons I learned about writing and about myself
Let's talk about writing rituals! Did you know some writers train to write better by using writing rituals?
Back when I was still defining my process, I liked the idea of the bohemian writer. You know the one: the tortured artist who stays up all night writing beautiful prose amidst a cloud of cigarette smoke, reading lines out loud with a whisky tainted voice. But that wasn't my style. My style back then was more the one of a writer who struggles to find the ✨time to write✨. When I actually found it, I had no inspiration and just ended up giving up and thinking I must have been suffering from writer's block. Turns out, I just needed to give writing rituals a try.
What’s a writing ritual?
A writing ritual is a set of behaviors or actions repeated before a writing session to train the brain to focus and be more productive. These behaviors vary from writer to writer. They can be simple, like making a cup of coffee just before sitting down to write, or a bit more complex, like listening to binaural beats and committing to finishing something. Some writers meditate, start their days at 4 a.m., walk their dogs, watch TV, or wear a specific writing outfit to trick their brains into productivity and quenching all desires to procrastinate.
Who should use writing rituals?
Writing rituals are for people who, like me, struggle to set and sticking with a routine. Headspace argues that routine benefits creativity and productivity, but how do we set out to create a routine that eventually becomes a habit?
In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg explains a habit is formed by following three important steps:
Cue: “A trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and pick which habit to use.”
Routine: A sequence of actions that “can be physical or mental or emotional.”
Reward: A positive reinforcement that will help “your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.”
With writing rituals, whatever behaviors you perform before your writing sessions become the cues. Supposedly, after enough times of repeating the same set of behaviors, your brain will know it’s time to write and release all the creative energy you need. After showing up in front of your desk intending to write every day, your ritual will become a routine and even second nature.
I know, I know, it all sounds very Pavlovian. When I set out to try it, I had my doubts, too. I kept my ritual simple: Woke up at 6 a.m., showered, made coffee, and sat down to write. My writing ritual not only became a powerful tool to create my writing routine, it also taught me a few things about the writing process and about myself.
Takeaways
1. Writing when you're most productive can be a powerful tool.
When do you have the most energy? Do you feel refreshed when you wake up or do you feel more awake at night? Thanks to using writing rituals to figure out my writing routine, I discovered that I'm an early bird. There's no better time for me to write than at the crack of dawn, so why would I set myself to work when I’m least productive?
2. A writing ritual can help you determine your plotting style.
If you still need to figure out your writing style, writing rituals might be just what you need. You’ve gone for a walk, you’ve made your coffee and listened to your music, but you still have a hard time writing. Perhaps what you need is to plan your writing sessions. I turned out to be more of a plotter than I thought. Even after doing all my favorite rituals, I could not focus or be as productive as I wanted. It turned out that I needed to plot my chapters to increase my productivity. Rituals gave me the will to write, plotting gave me the organization my brain needed to succeed.
3. A routine might be the answer to Writer's block.
The ever-dreaded writer’s block, that overwhelming feeling of not being able to write at all, might be cured by setting up a new routine. I was stuck in the same place of a story for a year, and a new set of writing rituals did wonders to get me out of my head and start writing again. Ever since I found the writing rituals that work for me, I have been able to get out of writing ruts faster than before. Whenever I get stuck, I go back to the basics: Wake up early, get caffeine, sit down to write.