Writing Routine vs. Ritual

If you write every morning for half an hour before work, you’ve got a writing routine. Do you decide on a weekly goal to write so many words? That would be a writing routine. Do you tell yourself that you’re going to get a scene written every day and then do so? You’ve got a routine.

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If you have a writing routine, kudos to you! Honestly, getting a good routine together is half the battle of getting that book written.

But if you want an even easier way to get those words down, you might want to establish a writing ritual.

Some people have a bedtime ritual or a morning ritual. Every night before you go to bed you might change, brush your teeth, read for half an hour and then turn off the light and you’re asleep because your brain knows what to expect and as you go through that ritual it is preparing itself for sleep. Every morning you’ve got your ritual of getting up, having a cup of coffee, going to the gym, and so on. It’s a ritual that gets you ready for the day.

The same can be true for writing. You can develop a writing ritual which tells your brain ‘now is the time to let go and allow your imagination free rein.’ Now is the time to live your story in your head and write it down as you do so.