Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Wednesday Writers Weigh In: Rituals of Preparation

Yesterday we laid out Twyla Tharp's 4 Rituals for Preparation as discussed in Chapter 2 of "Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life".  If you haven't read the post, you might want to.

A recap...

4 Rituals of Preparation:
 
1)  Find the environment that works for you
2)  Develop the start-up ritual that impels you forward every day.
3)  Face down your fears
4)  Put distractions in their proper place

Now that we have had time to digest and perhaps get indigestion from Twyla's suggestions, its time to reflect. 

Of Twyla's 4 Rituals, is there one element you can see yourself adopting?  Is there a way to try one of her methods this week? What spoke to you?  What do you struggle with?

Writers, Weigh In and let us know what your take-away from Chapter 2 is.

And join us on Friday, when I will provide some exercises/homework to help you.  :)

5 comments:

  1. The one I think I'd most need to work on is "Put distractions in their proper place." With very limited writing time, I want to be able to focus on that and nothing else. It's hard because Fridays are the days when I have the largest chunk of "free" time -- my mother picks up the kids from school and takes care of them for the afternoon. So I really do have most of the day on Fridays to do whatever I want. However, often I end up scheduling appointments, doing errands that are best done without the kids around, etc. on Fridays. I have to remind myself to shelter that time. It is precious!

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  2. Does "put distractions in their proper place" mean "lock my daughters in a closet"? Because they only interrupt me at two times--when I am on the phone and when I am writing, LOL.

    Anyway...I try to begin every day with a cup of tea after I drop the kids off at school. I wish I had my own writing space, though. My bed is my desk. My dream is a room dedicated to my craft, but for now, at least the bed is comfy.

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  3. I'd like to have a start-up ritual each day. That seems like a good idea. Ritual. I like the sound of it.....

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  4. #4 is hardest for me, too! I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I need to be more serious about #2.
    Nice post!

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  5. I have to confess, I was headed to this post right after reading the previous one and got distracted by email and FB and lost 10 minutes! Multiply that by [fill in the blank] and it's hours of lost time!

    I barely make it to work on time, so a morning ritual won't work for me. I'm thinking of stopping on my way home, at the library or bookstore, to write. I have two dogs at home that are as demanding as 3 year olds! Any other suggestions of places I can go to write?

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