‘Recently I was talking to a writer who described something she did whenever she moved to her writing table. I don’t remember exactly what the gesture was – there is something on her desk that she touches before she hits the computer keyboard – but we began to talk about little rituals that one goes through before beginning to write. I, at first, thought I didn’t have a ritual, but then I remembered that I always get up and make a cup of coffee while it is still dark – it must be dark – and then I drink the coffee and watch the light come. And she said, Well, that’s a ritual. And I realised that for me this ritual comprises my preparation to enter a space that I can only call nonsecular…Writers all devise ways to approach that place where they expect to make contact, where they become the conduit, or where they engage with this mysterious process. For me, light is the signal in the transition. It’s not being in the light, it’s being there before it arrives. It enables me.’ – Toni Morrison, The Paris Review Interviews Vol. II, 2007
Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecote
Stuff from the guts of Australian writer Nigel Featherstone
Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecote 
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August 15, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Aug
Irma Gold
The transition between dark and light, and the morning opening up, sounds like the perfect way to enter a writing space.
For me, I’ve been forced to reject all rituals, all preparation. I only get small snatches of time away from the kids to write so I’ve learned to get straight into it whenever, wherever. My only ritual is that there must be a cup of coffee or tea involved!
August 15, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Aug
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Irma, lovely to hear from you.
Ah yes: rituals are not for every writer, are they. And I certainly understand that need to writer whenever, wherever. And also the coffee imperative!
I do, however, appreciate what Morrison is saying here: there’s something about becoming awake when the day is breaking, especially when there’s some writing to be done. More and more recently I’ve been a little disappointed when I wake and dawn has already happened. There’s nothing like opening the curtains and it’s dark outside and thinking, Okay, let’s make this good day happen.
Perhaps there’s only one sure thing with this whole writing game: everybody does it differently.
August 15, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Aug
Gabrielle Bryden
Her ritual sounds very productive – I like the idea of being up before the sunrises to write, but I like sleeping in way too much 😉 but I could easily stay up all night writing (if my family would let me) and go to bed at the crack of dawn.
August 16, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Aug
Nigel Featherstone
Gabe, your sleep-ins are your ritual. And I partly wish I could still do that one!