Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The 1,2,3's of My A,B,C's

I love Ritual, capital "R". Repetition, in the case of my morning writing routine, breeds creativity, joy, and comfort.

After I've woken up at 5:00am, worked out, and showered, I prep for writing in the following manner:

1. Put on the coffee. This is a must. Possibly first inspired by my love of Special Agent Dale Cooper and everything Twin Peaks. And to think I used to be wary of writing when hyped up on caffeine! Now I can't (okay, won't) function without a half pot of "damn fine coffee" while diving into my fiction and spending time with my characters.

2. Scramble eggs, drink coffee, and read a chapter of whatever novel and author I'm current savoring. I'm now reading In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters, a Portland author who's hit the nail on the head -- and the gauze mask on the face -- with this seductive, haunting tale about Spiritualism and "spirit photography" during 1918's Spanish Influenza epidemic.

2.5 Sometimes I like to read a comic over my coffee and eggs. I'm slowly making my way through Comic Book Tattoo, an anthology of stories inspired by Tori Amos songs edited by the "Flying Dutchman" himself, Rantz Hoseley. (After this, it's off to the races with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine).

3. Music is essential, just like coffee. I must have music blasting into my headphones, getting me into a groove and helping me to paint the pictures I see with my mind's eye. It's like the beats and voices, the rhythms, travel from the headphones into my veins, heart, spirit, and fingertips. After an unhealthy obsession with MS MR's Secondhand Rapture this summer, I'm now entranced by Chvrches' debut, The Bones of What You Believe. I can't get enough of this New Wave-inspired band from Glasgow -- think Kid Sister & Co. to Florence + the Machine. You can check out their videos here: http://chvrch.es/videos.


There you have it -- the 1,2,3's of my A,B,C's. If I decide to dig in even further, I'm sure I could share quirkier habits and rituals around my writing, though the blog post title "The 4,5,6's of My D,E,F's" doesn't quite have the same lyrical ring to it....

1 Comments:

Blogger charlie said...

I love everything about this post!!

1.12.13  

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