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Lucky Writer's Socks?
Baseball players are known to have strange pre-game rituals. Rob Murphy wore women’s underwear under his jock strap while pitching (honestly, can you think of anything less comfortable than a jock-strap-and-thong wedgie?), while Kevin Millar used to sprinkle his bats with doe pee when he was with the Florida Marlins. But as the phrase, “I’m going to write, so I’m taking the candle” left my mouth, I started wondering about the odd rituals of writers.
Walter Benjamin advocated, “a pedantic adherence to certain papers, pens, inks…” and Bruce Chatwin would do just that – buying large collections of Moleskin notebooks and writing two addresses in the cover of each in case they were lost.
Writing and snacking tend to go hand in hand (or perhaps hand in mouth?*), and while many writers say that a coffee is an absolute necessity, N. Gemini Sasson requires one of two particular coffee mugs from a castle gift shop in England, which only she can drink from, and only when she’s writing.
Like Manny Ramirez, Sarah Darer Littman uses perfume in her rituals. While Manny would spritz himself with cologne before going out onto the field, eventually prompting the rest of the Red Sox to ask for “good luck sprays” of their own**, Sarah Darer Littman uses one perfume per book she works on, associating each book with a scent.
Similarly, J. R. Murdock realized that it wasn’t the act of cutting and eating oranges that made him productive, but the scent of the orange itself. Eventually, Murdock decided to replace the orange scent with the act of making an infinity sign with his fingers before getting to work.
Granted, none of these habits are as odd as sprinkling one’s computer with animal piss, or changing (or not changing) one’s socks depending on the latest book review. But perhaps there’s some odd writing habits I missed — what odd writing ritual do you have?
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* Hand in mouth sounds like a disease, doesn’t it? Like something you can get from the subway on your way home. (Ah-ha! Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease — better stock up on hand sanitizer, or stop touching the blisters of infected persons.)
** If you are a Yankee fan, please add your own “spray” joke here. There are just too many for me to choose just one.
*** Thanks to the book JINXED: BASEBALL SUPERSTITIONS FROM AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES, edited by Ken Leiker, for the baseball superstitions.
I don’t have anything quite as strange as some of those, but I do tend to need certain kinds of music for certain kinds of writing – for example, I can’t listen to anything besides instrumental when I’m writing poetry – and I usually go for a walk before sitting down for a serious writing session.
I usually put on a movie, something I’ve seen a thousand times and know by heart. It sounds bad, but if I don’t I’ll end up staring into space for hours on end and producing nothing.
Nothing particularly weird; I do like to have tea or coffee while I write, sometimes a snack, and sometimes the work demands a particular type of music. I wrote one story once, where the only thing I could stand to listen to during the process was raga music…
John Cheever used to dress in full 1950’s era suit and tie, get in the elevator with all the rest of the 9 to 5 boys similarly attired, all of whom got off at the first floor. He would continue on to the basement of his apt. building, where he had an office, strip down to his skivvies, right until 5, then dress back up in time to catch the elevator back up with all the returning workers.
This isn’t so strange. I drink more when I write, and often match some music with whatever I’m writing. Poetry demands softer, easier listening, while stories require the tone of the event I’m currently writing (if it is suspenseful, quick and dangerous music).
[...] Odd Writing Rituals (That, Alas, Don’t Involve Urine) [...]
I’m not an author, but I can certainly see how a particular scent or certain music could help to create mood and memories to enhance writing.
I have to listen to certain music in order to write. Always. If I’m not listening to music, writing is like trudging through several feet of snow. And it has to be a certain kind of music. My characters are very picky, even making me listen to a certain range of songs before they’ll work for me. The same rule applies to writing AND editing.
And, it just so happens, the characters that are the pickiest, are the ones that give me the best writing. Isn’t that ironic?
I seem to have the same habits as Kyra: music matching the mood and drinking more while writing. I love finding other writers that are kindred spirits!
There is a beer bell curve (or perhaps a blood-alcohol bell curve) – a couple gets the juices flowing, a couple more and you hit the sweet spot, a couple more and you get flabby and distracted. I wrote my first book while doing night shifts as a reporter. I’d start at about 2 a.m. with a six pack and half a pack of cigarettes, finish between 4 and 5, tipsy and coughing.
I have a few weird rituals.
1- No music while I work on poetry.
2- I associate specific moods with various works. When I plan to work on my poetry, I need either utter silence or total chaos. In either case, my mind doesn’t get the chance to focus on a distracting sound.
3- I have exactly 500 songs that I shuffle when working on my pet project- a comedy trilogy about death. I have to listen to at least 5 of them before I can get started.