mariequitecontrarie  asked:

november: do you have any rituals or requirements for getting in the mood for writing?

Hmm. Interesting.

Starting is the very hardest part. I can open everything up and then just sit and click around tumblr/email/phone games etc. for hours without doing anything. I super suck like that.

I guess to go with success I need to decide the night before what I’m doing. I suffer terribly from project paralysis – I have so many things I want to do that I find it hard to settle on one, I feel like I should be working on everything! So if I decide the night before then it’s kinda ‘switched on’ in my brain that yes, this is what I’m doing, so I do tend to actually knuckle down a little more then.

It doesn’t always work because I’m constantly panicking about something, I feel like I’m running out of time and torn in different directions, and the voice in the back of my head that says everything I write super sucks makes it hard to get those words down.

My brain is like a petulant child and will make all kinds of excuses to get out of working. So it’s easier if I’m at home, if I’m warm, not hungry, not thirsty, in a minimal amount of pain etc. Then I can put music on, open up my files and there are no external barriers to provide excuses.

So basically I don’t have a ritual so much as I just try and minimise excuses my brain makes. Maybe if I did have a ritual that would help? It would be like a signal to my brain to settle down now, it’s time to work. I will think on it!