Gifts For The Writer

Those of us who love to write find that over time we create numerous little writing habits that become our writing ritual. Many of us have a preferred time of day to write. Often we need to write in one of several "creative spots" we have discovered over the years. Certainly we have our preferred implements. How our writing tool glides over the paper we are writing on can be very important to a writer.

I, for instance, prefer to write outdoors or in my home in front of the french doors overlooking the creek. I always write on a yellow legal pad with a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil. I prefer that I am able to push more pencil lead to the tip of the pencil by clicking somewhere on the pencil near where my fingers are holding it. I do not like to move my fingers away from holding the pencil to click the end of the pencil for more lead.

Others writers I know prefer to write in a small enclosed den with a laptop or notebook computer. They are the type who want no outside sound or visual influence to interrupt their writing process. Sometimes they have rooms with no windows and sometimes they simply draw the curtains.

I had an uncle who woke at 5:00 a.m., filled his ink pen and made a pot of morning coffee on the woodstove before he began writing. After three edited pages, he allowed himself breakfast. As for writing space, he was fortunate to have his own small one-room log cabin next to the main house.

Still others have no apparent ritual, finding time to write whenever the urge strikes or there is a convenient moment in their day. But don't let their apparent chaotic writing fool you. They too have a ritual, if nothing more than a large pocket with pad and pen or pencil so they can create on the fly.