Daily Rituals

What does it take to make me write the first word of the day - Quite a lot actually.

I suppose you have to start with waking up. For me it kind of starts there. Usually around 7am I sit up in bed and, if it’s a writing day, I blink at the world trying to re-enforce that ‘yes, I’m going to get up and do some writing today’ feeling. 

On some days I might even be compos mentis enough to think about what it is I actually want to achieve - although that’s a rarity. On a side note: does anyone else sleep for exactly the same amount of hours each night? Seven hours thirty-two minutes, precisely. It doesn’t matter when I go to bed, I always seem to sleep for exactly the same length of time each night - weird. 

Once I’m up, then comes the obligatory cup of tea. The day just can’t start until that very British ritual has been observed. As a rule I don’t do breakfast. Not because I’m not too hungry or whatever, it’s just down to me being too lazy. Then, once ablutions have been completed, after the obligatory cracking of knuckles the writing begins… If only. 

First things first. Powering up my gear takes a while. My Mac Pro, although powerful, is of ancient years. Nearly a decade of software upgrades has made it somewhat slow on boot-up. I usually go round the house opening the curtains and loading the dishwasher while I wait for its valves to warm up. Anyway, once the machine is at gas mark 5, I can start writing. However, it is amazing what I will do to avoid starting to write. 

My first job involves laying out all my apps into their own individual workspaces. I’d love it if my mac would remember them all from my last session, but alas, this is not the case. Wacom Center, Activity Monitor, Skype, Mail, Calendar, Safari, Firefox, Numbers, Notes, Dictionary, Pages, Scrivener, Messages, photoshop, Modo, Zbrush, Lightroom - I generally have these open on different spaces (desktops) and it takes a while to get them all set up. Finally though, with my computer all sorted I can settle down to write … but first I have to check my email. 

It is unfathomable how many pieces of mail can come in overnight. While the world sleeps, or at least the bit which is called Great Britain, it seems that nocturnal servers send out mail from this or that company demanding your attention. Gas, water, electricity blah, blah, blah. Eventually when all correspondence is sorted I move on to the news. ‘I must keep up on current events,’ I say to myself, adding that it will probably make me a better writer. But, today, gathering news requires a little bit more than opening the newspaper. It requires scanning Facebook, the BBC News app, Google News - Both UK and USA versions, and a dozen or so other apps. Then it’s onto scanning a few websites for general stuff - Youtube, film sites and a couple of CG forums. Youtube can eat a lot of time, as I scroll through some of my subscriptions - Catamaran sailing videos, photoshop videos, late night US talkshows, the list goes on and on. Then it’s onto more serious matters, like checking the Merry Hell Website and checking the Twitter ( https://twitter.com/MerryHellBooks ) and Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/MerryHellBooks ) pages . A little maintenance here and there and before you know it there’s a rattle from downstairs as the snail mail is delivered. That can take up time as well! Dispersed between the junk mail, important pieces of mail with titles like ‘Final Demand’ and ‘Overdue’, are dressed in elegant brown envelopes, looking like they’ve been caught drinking in public. 

By now, I bet you’re starting to ask how I get any writing done at all. Couple that together with the fact that I still have a day job and even I must admit that I don’t really understand it.

Anyway, eventually when I can put it off for no longer, I sit down and attempt to write. It can be an onerous task but it comes down to one thing. Writing that first word. Once that is on the page, reality fades to the corners of the room and I am once more back in my small little world, loving every moment of it. Why do I ever leave?

Writing - Difficult to start, even more difficult to stop.