blog blossoms… how will my blog bloom?

One of the suggested post-reading activities from a recent assigned reading task included this:

“Develop a list of your personal writing rituals and how they help (or hinder!) your writing.”

I was inspired to draft my own list:

Holly’s Personal Writing Rituals

* Open a window (whenever possible, have fresh air) [alternatively, sit on our screened-in porch]
* If birdsong coming through the window, fine! If desired, turn on soft, soft volume of background music of choice
* Have a few favorite photos nearby (I find myself glancing this way and that way as I’m trying to work, to think, and when my eyes spy favorite photos, it causes me to pause, smile, and usually I’ll return back to focus on my writing in a calm manner)
* Have a plant or flower nearby (I love flowers!)
* If it’s evening, light a candle (soothing)
* Have a full glass of water at the ready, and refills too
* Have a supply of pens and pencils (my favorites!) and scratch paper/pads
* Turn cell phone to silent
* Open relevant related documents I may want to refer to, gather books/reference notes
* Prioritize my writing focus/tasks for that day
* Scan inbox (emails) and U of P discussion posts and Twitter and EnglishCafe Recent Activity and then CLOSE THOSE WINDOWS
* Be sure I have my back support contraption on my chair
* Set the timer for 47 minutes (I give myself stretch breaks every 47 minutes)
* Play one last game of Spider Solitaire — clear it out of my system!
* Quick scan where I left off in last writing effort — review directives/guidelines –
* Write! Write! Write!
* write… write… write…
* Write.

What would you add? What wouldn’t you do?
Reactions? Questions?
Please post a reply/response; thanks!
holly

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 11:06 am Filed under goal setting and tagged distractions, rituals, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.