What Are Writing Rituals?

“I only write when I’m inspired, so I see to it that I’m inspired every morning at nine o’clock.” ~Peter D Vries

Writing rituals will improve your writing skills.

We all have rituals, being creatures of habit. Some are good, and others are not, but our rituals are what builds our character, and make us who we are.

Writing rituals are a series of actions or habits we perform daily to improve our writing skills. By practicing writing rituals, we will overcome writer’s block, increase our creativity, and hone our ability to write like an accomplished author.

My day usually starts the same. I wake in the morning slowly emerging from the hypnopompic state, trying to shake off my sleep inertia as my mind drifts off between full consciousness, and the surreal reality I was just in a moment earlier.

My first ritual is to write down a few notes that are emanating from my subconscious mind while still staggering my movements because of my body's desire to go back to dreamland. I know after my mind recovers from the hypnopompic state, I will never remember what I was contemplating writing later if I don’t write it down now.

I am going to need some strong coffee to awaken my creativity, and kick start my mind so I pour an extra half a scoop of coffee more than the recommendation into the coffeemaker, okay a full scoop. Caffeine is a good friend of creativity.

I then stumble into the shower and turn on the cold water to shock my system into full wakefulness.

The big drawback of a cold shower is that it tends to erase the micro-short-term memory and the creativity you received during your emergence from the hypnopompic state, as the cold water sends your ideas back into the abyss from which they came.

That’s why writing your ideas down first is important for your writing success. When you emerge from the shower dressed in just your unmentionables still damp because you did an inadequate job of drying yourself off because of the smell of stout coffee that was compelling you to have a cup.

Drinking your hot coffee as you stand there in your underwear, you look down at your desk and notice a strange scrap of paper with writing on it. It is then you realize it is your writing, and you are reading the notation you wrote down earlier.

Not only did you forget what your ideas for your story were earlier, you don’t even remember writing them down in the first place. See how important it is to write your ideas down first?

I did sneak in a switcheroo of pronouns there in my spiel to invite you to envision yourself in the scenario. Now that I helped awaken your imagination and creativity, let’s move on to more helpful writing rituals.

5 Writing Rituals to Make You a Productive Writer.

1: Have a designated area to write.

Having a designated area to write is important, going to your writing area every day becomes part of your writing ritual, and helps you focus your thoughts. Make sure nothing else is done in your writing area other than writing.

Going to your designated area to write trains your brain to know you are there for only one purpose, and that purpose is to write.

2: Write at the same time every day.

Just like writing in the same place every day is a great ritual to start, writing at the same time every day is a productive ritual to get your writing done efficiently as well. By writing at the same time every day, you will be less likely to be distracted by external circumstances.

Your mind will be in working mode just as you would if you were working for a company to earn a paycheck. Your boss would not let you get away with slacking off. Don’t let yourself get away with it either.

I start off writing in the morning for a few hours and then spend time living life during the afternoon. Afternoons are also a great time for me to comment on blogs in my niche, or social media to attract new visitors to my work, right from my mobile device.

My mind is most active at night so I go back to writing content, or stories at night when my creativity is flowing again.

3: Write something every day.

“Don’t think; just write!” — Ray Bradbury

We always get better at the things we practice often. If you want to be a skilled writer you must put ideas down on paper every day. If your notations you wrote down as soon as you woke up are not inspiring, (You did write down some writing ideas as soon as you got up, didn’t you?) then try free writing.

Free writing is writing anything that is on your mind. Don’t worry about what you are going to write about, or creating an outline, just start writing. Focus one hundred percent of your attention on writing, and just let your creativity flow through your fingers. You may be surprised by what you end up writing.

4: Take your mind for a walk to get your creativity flowing.

This may seem counterproductive as a writing ritual, but a writer needs to have their creativity flowing to perform their best. One good way to get your creativity flowing is to go for a walk, it also helps to relieve body aches and pains from sitting at a desk for hours on end.

The pain will hamper your creativity no matter where your pain is coming from. Give yourself a break by making exercise part of your writing routine.

5: Invoke a Muse.

If you are willing to entertain more esoteric ideologies for your writing ritual, I have just the thing for you.

Homer was the author of the Odyssey near the end of the 8th century BCE. Homer had a writing ritual he would perform called invoking a muse.

In Greek mythology, the nine muses are goddesses of various arts such as music, dance, and poetry. Their own giftedness in the arts were unparalleled and helped both gods and mankind to forget their troubles. They also inspired musicians and writers to strive to reach greater creative and intellectual heights. (According to Tweet Speak Poetry)

By invoking a Muse, you are offering a prayer to invite her to bring you divine creativity, skill, and inspiration for writing works of art that would even impress the gods.

Perhaps you could try invoking Homer himself to improve your writing skills. If you start writing in Homeric Greek, you will know you were successful.

Give some, or all of these rituals a try to improve your writing skills today.

R.G. Ramsey

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