There is no prompt posted today with our July P.A.D. beginning on Tuesday. But if you wish, join our discussion on “What do you deem necessary for a successful writing session? Do you have a routine? A superstition? Do you need something nearby? A nice cup of something to stir your muse? Give us a glimpse at your quirks and what makes them work for you.
For me, a successful writing session requires three quirks:
— the television turned to a ballgame
— the radio tuned to an oldies station
— a bag of prunes at the ready
If these three quirks, don’t work, I add another quirk and make it a gallon.
Claudsy
Now that’s funny. Good one, Bill.
http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com
🙂
Marie Elena
Teeheehee! 😀
Claudsy
For me, there must be terrific instrumental music running through the headphones. Okay, so I cheat sometimes and work with shamanic music so I can tap cadence as I write–whether with poetry or prose.
Once in a while though, nothing will work but silence. Those are the days when poetry is moving in the pastoral or philosophical vein. I need to be able to dive into th mental image and write from there and music doesn’t always help that process.
For a lot of prose, I do very well working in a coffee shop with all sorts of activity around me. I usually find inspiration in the energy of the place as much as anything.
So, I guess you’d say it depends on the day, the time of day, what I’m working on, and how energetic I’m feeling at the time. 🙂
Marie Elena
Oh my friend you are soooooooooooo poetic. Everything you write (including your response here) sings of poetry! I think it pulses through your veins. I really do.
Claudsy
Bless you, my sweet friend. I don’t ever feel particularly poetic, though a few lines here and there leap out at me to slap me in the face and declare themselves worthy of reading. 🙂
You’ve always supported my humble efforts, for which you’ll always be appreciated more than you know.
Marie Elena
“Those are the days when poetry is moving in the pastoral or philosophical vein” is as poetic as it gets, IMHO. And you weren’t even intending it to be so. This is how you write when you aren’t even writing. 😉
Hugs, dear friend.
Claudsy
I guess I just can’t see it, Marie. Maybe just to close to it, or perhaps a different definition of poetic. Either way, I appreciate your view and your enjoyment of what I write. ❤
Marie Elena
Could be a different way of defining “poetic,” but nearly every comment you make has a poetic ring to it in my way of thinking. It does this poetic heart good! ❤ back.
Claudsy
Bless you, my friend. 🙂
http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com
Every morningI I pile the pillows up behind me, grab the laptop, and get started, frequently waking with a line of poetry i my head. I like it quiet, but can write through interruptions, telly programmes and thunderstorms (as now!)
Claudsy
Ooo, thunderstorms. They make for some of the best writing. Such a wonderful image, Viv. 🙂
Marie Elena
Wow! Good for you, Viv … you don’t let anything get in your way!
Henrietta Choplin
These days, my writing sessions change daily. Depending on what “life” has in store (changing weather, puppies, responsibilities, etc.), I am constantly evolving, 🙂 !!
Claudsy
It’s such a blessing, isn’t it, this evolution of one’s life. Without it we’d have so little to write about, including the process we use. 😀
Henrietta Choplin
Yes, Clauds… in the past I would freak-out, but I have learned that I cannot really control “life” — I just have to keep flowing with it 😀 !!
Claudsy
Oh, yeah, otherwise you drown. I got tired of treading water and built a raft. 😀
Henrietta Choplin
!! 😀
Marie Elena
Oh, can I relate to this!
Henrietta Choplin
🙂 !!
connielpeters
It depends on what type of writing I’m doing. Poetry, I can write or sort through poems just about any time with radio blaring, Vanessa calling, or Justin leaning on my head. Fiction, I usually wait until everyone’s out of the house and sit in my comfy chair and write to Christian or Classical music. For devotions and other nonfiction, I write at the table in the morning when everyone’s out or in the evenings I go back in the bed room with my laptop, close the door and let hubby hold the fort.
Claudsy
It’s always interesting to me how what type of writing we do demands something different; special music, a specific environment, little noise or lots of it, etc. It’s as if our minds require a specific context in which to formulate the mindset necessary for that type of work. And for each of us that mindset is different, individualized yet common.
Your description, Connie, points it out as much as any I’ve ever seen.
Marie Elena
So funny how the different “types” of writing respond best to different situations. Oh our minds are a fascinating lot, aren’t they? 😀
Nancy Posey
For me, it’s that simple formula: apply ass to chair. If I don’t make time to write (by making time for nothing but writing), it’s harder to get anything done, especially anything good.
Claudsy
There is that element to things, isn’t there, Nancy? Study is the same way. It’s the commitment and time dedication, regardless of the other requirements, that gets everyone done.
Marie Elena
Hear, hear! That is me in a nutshell. 😉
Penny Henderson
exactly.
Pamela Smyk Cleary (PSCinCT)
Oh YES, THAT! There are so many other things — responsibilities & distractions — that can pull you away, if you let them.
Pamela Smyk Cleary (PSCinCT)
Rats! I’m doing that right now. Woke with an idea in my head and haven’t written it down yet. Off to try to capture it before it’s gone!
thelanguageofherhand
I usually eat breakfast with oatmeal and coffee, clean and sit my self down at my desk. I love music but I am often frequengted by the tension in the house, with the howls and hes of fasting, I am inspired by the energy of willingness. My muse is centered by my current book writing down the bones which i frequent for a kick in the butt lol
Claudsy
I like that phrase–“the energy of willingness.” The routine, then, seems the thing that marks your process. The breakfast, then cleaning, followed by butt in chair. Focus on a specific project. The routine seems to have formed the habit that frames the process for you. Good for you!
thelanguageofherhand
yes Claudsy, the routine keeps me writing, I need the chair to push my button and get to gettin, i wish you a lovely day
Claudsy
Thank you, Hala. My day looks to be a good one. And the same to you and yours.
thelanguageofherhand
yes <i hope today will better than the sour end of yesterday
Claudsy
Ah but sour prepares a person to taste the sweet. Otherwise, how would we recognize it? 🙂
thelanguageofherhand
so true Claudsy, that made me smile, and today appears to be much sweeter 🙂
Claudsy
I’m glad. May your days be as cloudless as ours this week and the air as fresh.
thelanguageofherhand
thank you Claudsy, I wish the same for you always
Claudsy
🙂
Marie Elena
Hala, I’m not familiar with you or your work. My own visits here have been sporadic for quite a long while. Very nice to meet you!
thelanguageofherhand
Thank you Marie, very nice to meet you too
flashpoetguy
I knew a a friend who loved to write, but followed a ritual before putting down his first word. He owned a gold pinky ring which he would wear and touch before writing. It worked for him until he lost it and could not write! He never found it and the few rings he bought to replace it never did the trick. I steer away from attaching my writing sessions to objects, incantations, or even meditation. I simply say, “Help me write today, Lord.” I don’t have a specific time or place either. I simply write every single day, when and where I feel like. I might jot an idea or opening line in my small pocket pad and come back to it when I can or am so moved to work from that line or word or sentence or dialogue. I find that writing daily is the best way to fight the deserts of our craft and keep us building on words, strengthening what we build by editing enough, and subsequently finding joy in the finished piece of writing. When it’s done, I thank God for the gift.
Claudsy
I can relate to your not having a ritualistic formula or object associated with the act of writing, Sal. I seldom really know what my exact environment will be. It could be in the car, sitting on the roadside, jotting down lines of poetry while my sister takes photos of the scenery. Or in the car, in the middle of the night on a starry night photo shoot, using a penlight held in mouth, writing like mad because something has fired a few lines through the little gray cells. 🙂
Then again, your prayer does act like a starting pistol of sorts, a sanctioning of your intent. I think we all have something that acts in that capacity, even if its something as small as nodding the head to signal readiness to begin.
Loved reading this, Sal.
Marie Elena
Begin in prayer and end in thanksgiving. Sounds like the perfect recipe, Sal, and one I intend to begin immediately. Thank you!
Darlene Franklin
I’m somewhere between Connie and Damon on this one. I have a pre-writing routine that I have to restart if something interrupts. I check for new email, new comments on blogs I’m following, and often do part or all of a word search. I have found that poetry warms me up for writing fiction. (which is part of the reason my poems aren’t the many polished gems presented here) Novels, my bread and butter, take a good dose of BICGOK. I write in 200-word increments, about 15 minutes, and then 200 more. . . And somehow my tiny chunks has resulted in 30 books. I’m final edits for a book due on July 1st. Fright time.
Darlene Franklin
That’s BICHOK. My mistake. If you haven’t heard it before, I’ll explain.
Claudsy
Good luck on the edits, Darlene. I wonder if your need for this process is that you’re a rapid-fire sprinter, of sorts. Those short, quick 200 word chunks get out a specific idea/image that acts as a segment/increment of that scene or chapter. Perhaps your Muse organizes her material or storytelling that way so that she doesn’t lose anything vital along the way in a flurry of useless words that will just get wasted later in editing.
Writing poetry directly before doing prose does shift the mindset of the writer. At least, that’s been my experience. It also shifts the language/word choice used. I’ve noticed that, too.
I hadn’t realized that you’d written so many books. I’m glad to know that for sure and have to look for some of them soon.
Darlene Franklin
Interesting thought on those rapid-fire chunks. I thought of poetry this morning as I attempted to write a short paragraph about a rain/sleet storm changing to a snowstorm in Oklahoma, on Christmas. Because the challenge to portray something well known in a new way is a challenge in both poetry and fiction.
Claudsy
I’ve lived through many of those type of storms in Oklahoma, Darlene, so I can believe that it shifted perspective on you. They can been pretty spectacular.
Marie Elena
Darlene, I had no idea you have 30 books under your belt! WOW! Quite impressive!
Darlene Franklin
Thanks, Marie. Between my unpredictable health (I live in a nursing home and I’ve been hospitalized 5 times in the past 2 years) and a certain amount of burnout, I’m not “churning” out books as I used to. Writing poetry has been a joy and a relief. Having said that, I have two more books under contract after I finish this one. (October and April)
Marie Elena
I’m so sorry to hear of your health issues, Darlene. How nice that you have your writing talent, and are able to find joy.
Do you have a site that lists your publications?
Darlene Franklin
you can see them on my author page at amazon.com. speaking of which, I should update it.
b_young
I was a night person before I got hooked on Robert’s blasted PAD challenges. They got me waking up with half-written poems leaking out, and an addict’s need. So I write in the morning, and usually in bed. (Two notebooks and an iPad, so the lines have places to move around. That’s ideal. I have written on used Kleenex, though)
I have to write before the TV gets turned on. Can’t do much of anything in a crowded place–too much to watch. And how in the world can anyone write with music? I have the attention span of a sparrow.
Claudsy
😀 hahaha Barb, I have the same questions about anyone who can write with children in the vicinity. Those are voices I can never tune out. As for music and writing, I’m one of those who has to shift background noise to accommodate what I’m working on. Sometimes, like now, there is no music, and my sister and her house guest just came back in so that the door will have to close soon. It’s not crowds that get to me, but I don’t do well with people moving around and lots of conversation in my home environment while I’m trying to writing. (I guess I’m just too nosy for that. 🙂 ) I’ve been known to write a chapter of a novel while sitting at a table in a jazz club. That was interesting.
Because my vision is so poor, TV’s don’t bother me visually, but the sound does. We haven’t had one of those in the house for years.
You seem the purist when it comes to writing. I almost envy that. It used to be that I had to have absolute quiet. Life forced me from that mold in college. But I’ve plenty of writer friends who’re still purists like you. And that’s awesome.
b_young
Not a purist. Too lazy to filter. That takes so much work.
Claudsy
😀 hahaha
Darlene Franklin
What is strange to me, is that although I’m a musician, I love to sing or play but I don’t especially enjoy listening to it. Definitely wouldn’t help me write.
Claudsy
Odd. Is it that it takes your mind away from the words, either in poetry or fiction? I have a writer friend who was both a pro concert singer as a very young person, and then a pro artist before she took her PhD and taught for 20 years.
Today she can’t work on a painting at the same time she’s writing. She says that the one excludes and severely detracts from the other and both suffer as a result, if done simultaneously. That could be the case with you.
Marie Elena
Used Kleenex! HAHAHAHAHAHA! And if you have the attention span of a sparrow, mine is surely one of a chickadee.
janeshlensky
I’m a binge writer. Some days I may scribble an idea or a line or some smidgen of character, then pick up a good book and read. Other days, I take coffee with the birds and everywhere I look, a poem flutters by or a few pages of prose. I start longhand in a notebook and finish at computer, both bringing different paces and depths to me. When I have dry days, I think this must be a perfect day to edit and revise or read good stuff…or take a break from words and embrace silence.
Marie Elena
Sounds like you have a wonderful life balance happening there, Jane. Good for you! I know one thing … WHATEVER you are doing, it is working!
iaindouglaskemp
I have to scour the house, opening every draw and cupboard to see if I can discover where I stashed my will power and motivation. IF I locate them then it is still a super-human effort to sit down and get on with it. I look at the time and I have been mindlessly face-booking for an hour! Radio on or off, I don’t mind. It’s getting started that is the problem. If I don’t write to the prompt here on a Sunday then it will get away from me because I am just too busy.
Once I start, it’s easy. I write till I’m done writing. I’ve been loading archive content to my site this weekend and have been totally absorbed. If I write a poem then it’s 5 minutes to think of a title and then I write till I feel/know it’s finished. I never know where it’s going when I start. It just happens and really quite fast.
I do need my ashtray next to me – that will be hard next year as I intend to at least have a go at quitting. No other real issues other than distraction and commitment to getting on with it.
By the way, i currently waiting for a page to rake on the site (it’s sooo slow!) and I’m experimenting with downloadable PDFs for my recipes 🙂
Iain
Darlene Franklin
Oh, you sound too much like me.
Marie Elena
Confession time: Even though cigarettes don’t appeal to me to the extent that I have never had so much as one PUFF, there is something almost romantic in the thought of a cigarette in one’s hand with the smoke swirling upward while writing poetry.
iaindouglaskemp
Haha…Yeah, very Hemingway/Kerouac/Wilde-esque!!!
Marie Elena
Yup. 😉
Walt Wojtanik
The place is not important, although I’ve been finding the Public Library near home to be very advantageous for certain projects. The noise level is perfect with a little chatter, but not so much to be distracting. But the key for me… I need to be busy with non-literary pursuits. And the busier the better. My mind finds order in that kind of chaos and ideas and lines of poetry and bits of dialogue just pop in and I’m stuffing my pockets with post-it notes. In this I find my digital voice recorder to be an invaluable tool.
Coffee is a must unless i’m a-mused late in the day, and music is also key. (Classic Rock for most, but definitely Beatles for my non-poetic work (screenplay or music composition.)
When I am home, I have a corner of the living room with my computer desk and shelf of writing reference books and binders of Writer’s Digest and The Writer magazines, It’s a bit cluttered, but that plays into the rambunctious way my mind works. With that spelled out, it seems I’m ALWAYS writing something in some way, shape or form. It keeps me off of the streets!
Marie Elena
… and heavenly only knows we surely must keep you off the streets! 😀
I can’t write with music in the background, as it ends up being all I’m thinking about. It doesn’t have to be perfectly quiet or anything like that, but music is a definite no-no for me.
William Preston
A GODDESS SHE AIN’T
When I’m writing I try to peruse
the demands of a crotchety muse.
Though she can be a pest,
I can write at my best
when my muse is as loose as a goose.
Marie Elena
HA! Love it!! 😀
pmwanken
I really don’t think I have a muse. Not like other people talk about having a muse. I don’t think much about writing until I’ve read a prompt. I honestly don’t think I’d write if I didn’t have prompts. The vast majority of my work has been for them.
After I do read a prompt, I guess the ideas/thoughts simmer in the background whether I realize it or not, and when I’ve slowed down long enough to put fingers to keys (at work on a break, or when I’m home from the gym and sit down with my laptop), I write whatever comes out. Usually it takes about 5-10 minutes…unless I’m stuck on a title and then it takes longer. I never write my poems on paper. Only at the computer.
Yep. Kinda boring/uninteresting. But, as a friend of mine often says: it is what it is. 🙂
Marie Elena
5-10 minutes?
FIVE TO TEN MINUTES?!!!
Okay, now I’m REALLY jealous!! 😀
pmwanken
I mostly write shadormas…so…2.6 syllables per minute…?? (Don’t be jealous!) 😉
Marie Elena
Some haiku or senryu have been known to take me 20 or 30 minutes, Paula. The jealousy lives on. 😀
sheryl kay oder
My guess is you want to get it right the first time, Marie
Marie Elena
You’re sweet, Sheryl. But it really just takes me that long to formulate a thought and choose fitting words. 😉
iaindouglaskemp
I don’t really have a muse either. I love prompts. Views/Vistas/Panoramas get me going when I’m travelling and parks especially with al fresco cafés…but then I usually end up writing prose. I’m looking forward to seeing what if anything this summer brings out of me! 🙂
Marie Elena
Actually, I’ve decided to name my muse Uncle Joe.
You know … as in, “And that’s Uncle Joe, he’s a movin’ kinda slow at the junction.”
😀
WmPreston
Ah, yes; I can see the old water tower and the little train.
Marie Elena
😉
Priti
My muse was a Rip Van Winkle that slept for years and finally decided to wake up one day with sun salutations, and surprised me and my meandering thoughts.
Its a caterpillar that needs to be prodded to unfurl (so grateful for these prompts)
Its a novice that gets attached to a word and gnaws away at it, It loves to rhyme for some odd reason, and sometimes a poem just gets strung along because of delicious rhyming words.
Its most favorite place is the kitchen zone- where lines spring forth amidst the spices, between washing, chopping, stewing and staring outside window that validates the beauty in all kinds of life.
Henrietta Choplin
Lovely… kitchen ambience <3!!
Darlene Franklin
One of my favorite quotes about writing says, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” I don’t know that I have a muse (except for God’s movement through me, but only in a general sense) Creating an idea comes easily to me. Writing it is the hard part. But I try to make it strike at least once a day. . .
sheryl kay oder
While caring more for my mother, I have sent my muse on vacation with only a few short visits.
Normally I need quiet for concentration. Music would distract me. Often with a prompt I need to think about it before I sit at the computer. I do miss those early days when it was my own ideas which prompted me.
When I am composing silly verse, it often comes to me whatever I am doing, I cannot get the idea or rhyme out of my head. Once I my brain gets going, that kind of poem comes quickly. Then I need to get it on paper or the computer before it flies out of my brain.
Meena Rose
Hmmmm, writing rituals… none really. For me, it is all about finding the 15 minute or so slice of time where all my other priorities are not screaming. When responding to prompted writing, I read the prompt and begin typing within about 2 minutes. I stop when the typing stops and read for the first time what I wrote.
Of course, there are are other prompts, those which are form based, those are more conscious efforts. I divine the gist of the poem first and then I wrestle with form to make it fit.
Non prompted writing – I just know when I wake up that something must be written. During the weekends, those are mid day writes. Otherwise, this type of writing surfaces after the children have gone to bed and before the start of my nighttime rituals.
POETIC BLOOMINGS 
Responses
For me, a successful writing session requires three quirks:
— the television turned to a ballgame
— the radio tuned to an oldies station
— a bag of prunes at the ready
If these three quirks, don’t work, I add another quirk and make it a gallon.
Now that’s funny. Good one, Bill.
🙂
Teeheehee! 😀
For me, there must be terrific instrumental music running through the headphones. Okay, so I cheat sometimes and work with shamanic music so I can tap cadence as I write–whether with poetry or prose.
Once in a while though, nothing will work but silence. Those are the days when poetry is moving in the pastoral or philosophical vein. I need to be able to dive into th mental image and write from there and music doesn’t always help that process.
For a lot of prose, I do very well working in a coffee shop with all sorts of activity around me. I usually find inspiration in the energy of the place as much as anything.
So, I guess you’d say it depends on the day, the time of day, what I’m working on, and how energetic I’m feeling at the time. 🙂
Oh my friend you are soooooooooooo poetic. Everything you write (including your response here) sings of poetry! I think it pulses through your veins. I really do.
Bless you, my sweet friend. I don’t ever feel particularly poetic, though a few lines here and there leap out at me to slap me in the face and declare themselves worthy of reading. 🙂
You’ve always supported my humble efforts, for which you’ll always be appreciated more than you know.
“Those are the days when poetry is moving in the pastoral or philosophical vein” is as poetic as it gets, IMHO. And you weren’t even intending it to be so. This is how you write when you aren’t even writing. 😉
Hugs, dear friend.
I guess I just can’t see it, Marie. Maybe just to close to it, or perhaps a different definition of poetic. Either way, I appreciate your view and your enjoyment of what I write. ❤
Could be a different way of defining “poetic,” but nearly every comment you make has a poetic ring to it in my way of thinking. It does this poetic heart good! ❤ back.
Bless you, my friend. 🙂
Every morningI I pile the pillows up behind me, grab the laptop, and get started, frequently waking with a line of poetry i my head. I like it quiet, but can write through interruptions, telly programmes and thunderstorms (as now!)
Ooo, thunderstorms. They make for some of the best writing. Such a wonderful image, Viv. 🙂
Wow! Good for you, Viv … you don’t let anything get in your way!
These days, my writing sessions change daily. Depending on what “life” has in store (changing weather, puppies, responsibilities, etc.), I am constantly evolving, 🙂 !!
It’s such a blessing, isn’t it, this evolution of one’s life. Without it we’d have so little to write about, including the process we use. 😀
Yes, Clauds… in the past I would freak-out, but I have learned that I cannot really control “life” — I just have to keep flowing with it 😀 !!
Oh, yeah, otherwise you drown. I got tired of treading water and built a raft. 😀
!! 😀
Oh, can I relate to this!
🙂 !!
It depends on what type of writing I’m doing. Poetry, I can write or sort through poems just about any time with radio blaring, Vanessa calling, or Justin leaning on my head. Fiction, I usually wait until everyone’s out of the house and sit in my comfy chair and write to Christian or Classical music. For devotions and other nonfiction, I write at the table in the morning when everyone’s out or in the evenings I go back in the bed room with my laptop, close the door and let hubby hold the fort.
It’s always interesting to me how what type of writing we do demands something different; special music, a specific environment, little noise or lots of it, etc. It’s as if our minds require a specific context in which to formulate the mindset necessary for that type of work. And for each of us that mindset is different, individualized yet common.
Your description, Connie, points it out as much as any I’ve ever seen.
So funny how the different “types” of writing respond best to different situations. Oh our minds are a fascinating lot, aren’t they? 😀
For me, it’s that simple formula: apply ass to chair. If I don’t make time to write (by making time for nothing but writing), it’s harder to get anything done, especially anything good.
There is that element to things, isn’t there, Nancy? Study is the same way. It’s the commitment and time dedication, regardless of the other requirements, that gets everyone done.
Hear, hear! That is me in a nutshell. 😉
exactly.
Oh YES, THAT! There are so many other things — responsibilities & distractions — that can pull you away, if you let them.
Rats! I’m doing that right now. Woke with an idea in my head and haven’t written it down yet. Off to try to capture it before it’s gone!
I usually eat breakfast with oatmeal and coffee, clean and sit my self down at my desk. I love music but I am often frequengted by the tension in the house, with the howls and hes of fasting, I am inspired by the energy of willingness. My muse is centered by my current book writing down the bones which i frequent for a kick in the butt lol
I like that phrase–“the energy of willingness.” The routine, then, seems the thing that marks your process. The breakfast, then cleaning, followed by butt in chair. Focus on a specific project. The routine seems to have formed the habit that frames the process for you. Good for you!
yes Claudsy, the routine keeps me writing, I need the chair to push my button and get to gettin, i wish you a lovely day
Thank you, Hala. My day looks to be a good one. And the same to you and yours.
yes <i hope today will better than the sour end of yesterday
Ah but sour prepares a person to taste the sweet. Otherwise, how would we recognize it? 🙂
so true Claudsy, that made me smile, and today appears to be much sweeter 🙂
I’m glad. May your days be as cloudless as ours this week and the air as fresh.
thank you Claudsy, I wish the same for you always
🙂
Hala, I’m not familiar with you or your work. My own visits here have been sporadic for quite a long while. Very nice to meet you!
Thank you Marie, very nice to meet you too
I knew a a friend who loved to write, but followed a ritual before putting down his first word. He owned a gold pinky ring which he would wear and touch before writing. It worked for him until he lost it and could not write! He never found it and the few rings he bought to replace it never did the trick. I steer away from attaching my writing sessions to objects, incantations, or even meditation. I simply say, “Help me write today, Lord.” I don’t have a specific time or place either. I simply write every single day, when and where I feel like. I might jot an idea or opening line in my small pocket pad and come back to it when I can or am so moved to work from that line or word or sentence or dialogue. I find that writing daily is the best way to fight the deserts of our craft and keep us building on words, strengthening what we build by editing enough, and subsequently finding joy in the finished piece of writing. When it’s done, I thank God for the gift.
I can relate to your not having a ritualistic formula or object associated with the act of writing, Sal. I seldom really know what my exact environment will be. It could be in the car, sitting on the roadside, jotting down lines of poetry while my sister takes photos of the scenery. Or in the car, in the middle of the night on a starry night photo shoot, using a penlight held in mouth, writing like mad because something has fired a few lines through the little gray cells. 🙂
Then again, your prayer does act like a starting pistol of sorts, a sanctioning of your intent. I think we all have something that acts in that capacity, even if its something as small as nodding the head to signal readiness to begin.
Loved reading this, Sal.
Begin in prayer and end in thanksgiving. Sounds like the perfect recipe, Sal, and one I intend to begin immediately. Thank you!
I’m somewhere between Connie and Damon on this one. I have a pre-writing routine that I have to restart if something interrupts. I check for new email, new comments on blogs I’m following, and often do part or all of a word search. I have found that poetry warms me up for writing fiction. (which is part of the reason my poems aren’t the many polished gems presented here) Novels, my bread and butter, take a good dose of BICGOK. I write in 200-word increments, about 15 minutes, and then 200 more. . . And somehow my tiny chunks has resulted in 30 books. I’m final edits for a book due on July 1st. Fright time.
That’s BICHOK. My mistake. If you haven’t heard it before, I’ll explain.
Good luck on the edits, Darlene. I wonder if your need for this process is that you’re a rapid-fire sprinter, of sorts. Those short, quick 200 word chunks get out a specific idea/image that acts as a segment/increment of that scene or chapter. Perhaps your Muse organizes her material or storytelling that way so that she doesn’t lose anything vital along the way in a flurry of useless words that will just get wasted later in editing.
Writing poetry directly before doing prose does shift the mindset of the writer. At least, that’s been my experience. It also shifts the language/word choice used. I’ve noticed that, too.
I hadn’t realized that you’d written so many books. I’m glad to know that for sure and have to look for some of them soon.
Interesting thought on those rapid-fire chunks. I thought of poetry this morning as I attempted to write a short paragraph about a rain/sleet storm changing to a snowstorm in Oklahoma, on Christmas. Because the challenge to portray something well known in a new way is a challenge in both poetry and fiction.
I’ve lived through many of those type of storms in Oklahoma, Darlene, so I can believe that it shifted perspective on you. They can been pretty spectacular.
Darlene, I had no idea you have 30 books under your belt! WOW! Quite impressive!
Thanks, Marie. Between my unpredictable health (I live in a nursing home and I’ve been hospitalized 5 times in the past 2 years) and a certain amount of burnout, I’m not “churning” out books as I used to. Writing poetry has been a joy and a relief. Having said that, I have two more books under contract after I finish this one. (October and April)
I’m so sorry to hear of your health issues, Darlene. How nice that you have your writing talent, and are able to find joy.
Do you have a site that lists your publications?
you can see them on my author page at amazon.com. speaking of which, I should update it.
I was a night person before I got hooked on Robert’s blasted PAD challenges. They got me waking up with half-written poems leaking out, and an addict’s need. So I write in the morning, and usually in bed. (Two notebooks and an iPad, so the lines have places to move around. That’s ideal. I have written on used Kleenex, though)
I have to write before the TV gets turned on. Can’t do much of anything in a crowded place–too much to watch. And how in the world can anyone write with music? I have the attention span of a sparrow.
😀 hahaha Barb, I have the same questions about anyone who can write with children in the vicinity. Those are voices I can never tune out. As for music and writing, I’m one of those who has to shift background noise to accommodate what I’m working on. Sometimes, like now, there is no music, and my sister and her house guest just came back in so that the door will have to close soon. It’s not crowds that get to me, but I don’t do well with people moving around and lots of conversation in my home environment while I’m trying to writing. (I guess I’m just too nosy for that. 🙂 ) I’ve been known to write a chapter of a novel while sitting at a table in a jazz club. That was interesting.
Because my vision is so poor, TV’s don’t bother me visually, but the sound does. We haven’t had one of those in the house for years.
You seem the purist when it comes to writing. I almost envy that. It used to be that I had to have absolute quiet. Life forced me from that mold in college. But I’ve plenty of writer friends who’re still purists like you. And that’s awesome.
Not a purist. Too lazy to filter. That takes so much work.
😀 hahaha
What is strange to me, is that although I’m a musician, I love to sing or play but I don’t especially enjoy listening to it. Definitely wouldn’t help me write.
Odd. Is it that it takes your mind away from the words, either in poetry or fiction? I have a writer friend who was both a pro concert singer as a very young person, and then a pro artist before she took her PhD and taught for 20 years.
Today she can’t work on a painting at the same time she’s writing. She says that the one excludes and severely detracts from the other and both suffer as a result, if done simultaneously. That could be the case with you.
Used Kleenex! HAHAHAHAHAHA! And if you have the attention span of a sparrow, mine is surely one of a chickadee.
I’m a binge writer. Some days I may scribble an idea or a line or some smidgen of character, then pick up a good book and read. Other days, I take coffee with the birds and everywhere I look, a poem flutters by or a few pages of prose. I start longhand in a notebook and finish at computer, both bringing different paces and depths to me. When I have dry days, I think this must be a perfect day to edit and revise or read good stuff…or take a break from words and embrace silence.
Sounds like you have a wonderful life balance happening there, Jane. Good for you! I know one thing … WHATEVER you are doing, it is working!
I have to scour the house, opening every draw and cupboard to see if I can discover where I stashed my will power and motivation. IF I locate them then it is still a super-human effort to sit down and get on with it. I look at the time and I have been mindlessly face-booking for an hour! Radio on or off, I don’t mind. It’s getting started that is the problem. If I don’t write to the prompt here on a Sunday then it will get away from me because I am just too busy.
Once I start, it’s easy. I write till I’m done writing. I’ve been loading archive content to my site this weekend and have been totally absorbed. If I write a poem then it’s 5 minutes to think of a title and then I write till I feel/know it’s finished. I never know where it’s going when I start. It just happens and really quite fast.
I do need my ashtray next to me – that will be hard next year as I intend to at least have a go at quitting. No other real issues other than distraction and commitment to getting on with it.
By the way, i currently waiting for a page to rake on the site (it’s sooo slow!) and I’m experimenting with downloadable PDFs for my recipes 🙂
Iain
Oh, you sound too much like me.
Confession time: Even though cigarettes don’t appeal to me to the extent that I have never had so much as one PUFF, there is something almost romantic in the thought of a cigarette in one’s hand with the smoke swirling upward while writing poetry.
Haha…Yeah, very Hemingway/Kerouac/Wilde-esque!!!
Yup. 😉
The place is not important, although I’ve been finding the Public Library near home to be very advantageous for certain projects. The noise level is perfect with a little chatter, but not so much to be distracting. But the key for me… I need to be busy with non-literary pursuits. And the busier the better. My mind finds order in that kind of chaos and ideas and lines of poetry and bits of dialogue just pop in and I’m stuffing my pockets with post-it notes. In this I find my digital voice recorder to be an invaluable tool.
Coffee is a must unless i’m a-mused late in the day, and music is also key. (Classic Rock for most, but definitely Beatles for my non-poetic work (screenplay or music composition.)
When I am home, I have a corner of the living room with my computer desk and shelf of writing reference books and binders of Writer’s Digest and The Writer magazines, It’s a bit cluttered, but that plays into the rambunctious way my mind works. With that spelled out, it seems I’m ALWAYS writing something in some way, shape or form. It keeps me off of the streets!
… and heavenly only knows we surely must keep you off the streets! 😀
I can’t write with music in the background, as it ends up being all I’m thinking about. It doesn’t have to be perfectly quiet or anything like that, but music is a definite no-no for me.
A GODDESS SHE AIN’T
When I’m writing I try to peruse
the demands of a crotchety muse.
Though she can be a pest,
I can write at my best
when my muse is as loose as a goose.
HA! Love it!! 😀
I really don’t think I have a muse. Not like other people talk about having a muse. I don’t think much about writing until I’ve read a prompt. I honestly don’t think I’d write if I didn’t have prompts. The vast majority of my work has been for them.
After I do read a prompt, I guess the ideas/thoughts simmer in the background whether I realize it or not, and when I’ve slowed down long enough to put fingers to keys (at work on a break, or when I’m home from the gym and sit down with my laptop), I write whatever comes out. Usually it takes about 5-10 minutes…unless I’m stuck on a title and then it takes longer. I never write my poems on paper. Only at the computer.
Yep. Kinda boring/uninteresting. But, as a friend of mine often says: it is what it is. 🙂
5-10 minutes?
FIVE TO TEN MINUTES?!!!
Okay, now I’m REALLY jealous!! 😀
I mostly write shadormas…so…2.6 syllables per minute…?? (Don’t be jealous!) 😉
Some haiku or senryu have been known to take me 20 or 30 minutes, Paula. The jealousy lives on. 😀
My guess is you want to get it right the first time, Marie
You’re sweet, Sheryl. But it really just takes me that long to formulate a thought and choose fitting words. 😉
I don’t really have a muse either. I love prompts. Views/Vistas/Panoramas get me going when I’m travelling and parks especially with al fresco cafés…but then I usually end up writing prose. I’m looking forward to seeing what if anything this summer brings out of me! 🙂
Actually, I’ve decided to name my muse Uncle Joe.
You know … as in, “And that’s Uncle Joe, he’s a movin’ kinda slow at the junction.”
😀
Ah, yes; I can see the old water tower and the little train.
😉
My muse was a Rip Van Winkle that slept for years and finally decided to wake up one day with sun salutations, and surprised me and my meandering thoughts.
Its a caterpillar that needs to be prodded to unfurl (so grateful for these prompts)
Its a novice that gets attached to a word and gnaws away at it, It loves to rhyme for some odd reason, and sometimes a poem just gets strung along because of delicious rhyming words.
Its most favorite place is the kitchen zone- where lines spring forth amidst the spices, between washing, chopping, stewing and staring outside window that validates the beauty in all kinds of life.
Lovely… kitchen ambience <3!!
One of my favorite quotes about writing says, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” I don’t know that I have a muse (except for God’s movement through me, but only in a general sense) Creating an idea comes easily to me. Writing it is the hard part. But I try to make it strike at least once a day. . .
While caring more for my mother, I have sent my muse on vacation with only a few short visits.
Normally I need quiet for concentration. Music would distract me. Often with a prompt I need to think about it before I sit at the computer. I do miss those early days when it was my own ideas which prompted me.
When I am composing silly verse, it often comes to me whatever I am doing, I cannot get the idea or rhyme out of my head. Once I my brain gets going, that kind of poem comes quickly. Then I need to get it on paper or the computer before it flies out of my brain.
Hmmmm, writing rituals… none really. For me, it is all about finding the 15 minute or so slice of time where all my other priorities are not screaming. When responding to prompted writing, I read the prompt and begin typing within about 2 minutes. I stop when the typing stops and read for the first time what I wrote.
Of course, there are are other prompts, those which are form based, those are more conscious efforts. I divine the gist of the poem first and then I wrestle with form to make it fit.
Non prompted writing – I just know when I wake up that something must be written. During the weekends, those are mid day writes. Otherwise, this type of writing surfaces after the children have gone to bed and before the start of my nighttime rituals.
[…] The last bit of business we enacted before our month long journey through Poet Camp, was a discussion entitled: WHAT MOVES YOUR MUSE? […]
[…] The last bit of business we enacted before our month long journey through Poet Camp, was a discussion entitled: WHAT MOVES YOUR MUSE? […]