The Art of the Writing Ritual

How important is the writing ritual when you are writing a book?

I used to consider the ritual an afterthought until I realised nothing moves forward efficiently without one.

If you are a writer, or aspire to be one, you probably already have a ritual, whether you realise it or not.

And if you want to become a writer, building one is probably one of the most important things you can do. Here’s why.

A ritual is not the same as a habit.

It’s bigger than that.

Writing is thought on paper.

To write, you need to enter the right frame of mind.

And to arrive in that frame of mind, you need a ritual.

The ritual itself can change. The habit of having one is what matters.

Here’s mine when I write a book.

I recently shifted my writing ritual from 9 PM to 6 AM.

I wake at around 5.45AM every morning. I take my time to gaze through the dusk, barely able to make out the frames of the clouds through my barn bedroom window.

Then I go downstairs, quietly, and straight into the kitchen.

I make myself a strong, dark, black coffee and head to my writing room.

I open the window behind my Mac and spend a few moments gazing into the distance. I live in the countryside, and even through the darkness I can see the fields that seem to have no beginning and no end.

I take a deep breath, coffee still steaming hot.

Only then do I feel my mind is ready to sit down and write.

I write every morning until 7 AM.

This is sacred time for me. I can still be interrupted by my children, but they now understand what ‘mummy writes’ means.

Some mornings I may only write for 20 minutes. Other mornings, 60. On average, I probably write for around 45 minutes.

READ: How To Find Time To Write.

It may not sound like a lot.

But you’d be surprised how much writing gets moved forward.

And it isn't only what happens during those 20 or 45 minutes that matters.

Those minutes kick-start your brain.

As you go about your day, you'll notice your mind plotting the next scene. Solving something that wasn't quite working. Turning over a sentence. Brewing ideas somewhere in the background.

I think about writing all the time: the scenes, ideas, structure, common narrative thread.

And then, when the moment is right, I can sit down and write for half a day, pretty much without taking my eyes off the screen.

I am ready.

See how important the ritual is?

When we work together through my New Author Mentor programme, these are exactly the kinds of things we'll look at.

Not just what you write.

But how you create the conditions that allow you to write in the first place.

And, of course, we'll work on the writing itself.

If you are ready to write your book there are several ways I can help you with. 

See the details here.

Tamara Forrest-Smith