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FOR WRITERS: My Ritual

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FOR WRITERS

Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Olivia Wylie:

Do you have a writing ritual to get you in the zone? Tell us about it!

Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic.

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1 thought on “FOR WRITERS: My Ritual”

  1. I am only a very amateur/casual writer but I do find writer’s block a big problem. Here’s my go-to program.

    1. Have a routine and a place to write. Treat it like work, you show up, you do your work, you finish and go home. Ideally a study/home office or somewhere you don’t get distracted (not on the lounge in front of the TV) and people know not to interrupt you while you’re working.

    2. Warm up. I never dive straight into a work. You actual writers could catch up on clients, marketing, comms, PR, art, all that to ease into it. I would detail some missing worldbuilding/history, write up a character description/concept, rough out a scene dialog or script, work on/expand an outline, anything easy to do, aiming to warm up the creative juices with about 500 words or so. If it’s terrible you can throw it away without losing much, or switch to a new part instead of headbutting/rewriting the same one over and over.

    3. Take a break – if you’re burning out and getting frustrated continuing will only make you more unproductive, more frustrated and you’ll probably hating the whole thing, which will put creative barriers up when returning. Stop, do something thing else (either not writing, or a different project), relax get some fresh air, unwind and then come back to it. But also don’t use this as an excuse to delay and get nothing done. Set some productive and attainable goals that build into daily routines like “I am going to write for two hours this morning” or “I will complete this chapter then help prepare dinner with my partner.”

    Looking at some how-to guides unless you are naturally awesome, success is a learned thing, you become successful by being successful in small increments, and this building into your overall success, achievements and self-confidence.

    Reply

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