Don’t Wait for Inspiration to Strike

If you have regular writing rituals then you know that routine and rituals are great creativity tools if you put them to work for you. And the greatest ritual of all…? A daily writing routine.

The bricklayer who shows up each day, builds a wall. He knows that if he doesn’t show up, the wall doesn’t get built. Conversely, if he does show up to lay bricks each day, he makes steady and consistent progress.

Over time the bricks that become a wall, become a house. Similarly, the words that become a sentence… become a paragraph… become a chapter, to become a book over time, one day at a time.

Many writers wait for ideas to strike them before they sit down to write. If that’s you, congratulations on the inspiration that’s coming your way. Now it’s time to invoke it at will!

“To wait for inspiration to strike is like waiting to go to the gym once you’re slim and fit.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®

Table of Contents

• Don’t Wait for Inspiration to Strike
  • Audio Article – Writing Rituals
• Rituals are Signals that Invoke a Response
• Settings Can Be Rituals
  • Libraries and Bookstores – Settings for Inspiration
  • Sports – Settings for Fun and Fervor
  • Meditation – Settings for Aspiration and Invocation
• Habits that Beckon the Muse
  • Discipline and Consistency
• The Power of Habit
• Writing Rituals are Simply Habits
  • Jeff Goins of GoinsWriter.com says:
• Writing Rituals
• iCreateDaily Writing Rituals for Success
  • One Essential Writing Ritual – Just One Above All Others
  • Two Writing Rituals to Strengthen Your Craft
  • Three Writer’s Rituals for Flare and Fun
• Famous Writers’ Rituals
  • Interview excerpt where Seth Godin talks about his writing smock / lab coat:
  • Passage on Rituals by Steven Pressfield

Audio Article – Writing Rituals

The maker makes, and in the process, the maker is made.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®

Rituals are Signals that Invoke a Response

One of the habits that helps set you up for success is the cultivation of rituals that signal to your psyche that “It’s time to create.” Associations invoke a response. Consider the fragrance of coffee in the morning, (if you’re a coffee drinker)… the fragrance of pumpkin spice in fall… the music from a favorite movie soundtrack that can transport you to your favorite screen world.

The establishing of rituals is powerful for calling the muse and cultivating focus.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Settings Can Be Rituals

Libraries and Bookstores – Settings for Inspiration

In libraries, it is the quiet hush and smell of books that lure us into holding a book in our hands to discover the secrets therein. I have years of fond memories of coffee shops and bookstores. The aroma of coffee brewing and an array of bistro tables and overstuffed cozy chairs beckoning you to banter with a friend or curl up with a book and a brew to read… to think… and to dream.

For many writers, coffee shops invoke the desire to write. There, surrounded by wonderful aromas and the bustle of other humans but without the direct interruptions of home, or sense of isolation, if you live alone.

Sports – Settings for Fun and Fervor

In sports, it is the raucous cheer of the fans rocking the stadium that carry us away in the fun and spirit of the game. For most in North America, that setting probably includes the smell of hotdogs and relish, hot pretzels and soda, or if you’re cheering your team from home, it may be beer and pizza.

Meditation – Settings for Aspiration and Invocation

Rituals that invoke calm and preparation for meditation can include incense, lighted candles, meditative music and chimes. Chanting, mantras or guided meditations also help to create a state of stillness that prepares the mind for transcendence.

Settings are sacred spaces that signal the muse that you’re ready to settle down and write.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Habits that Beckon the Muse

Discipline and Consistency

It’s really quite simple. No mystery… no secret. Writing rituals practiced consistently over time, become habits.

It’s what we’re all about here. Consistency is the foundation of the iCreateDaily site, brand, and community because it’s that powerful… that important… and that essential to your success.

It’s all about creating daily. Daily rituals establish a rhythm of progress that become a habit that strengthens every area of your life, because what works for one is then easily applied to another.

Write, daily, and your muse will come.

The simplest but most effective habit above all else is to write daily.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

The Power of Habit

Rituals and settings are habits that beckon your muse. Habits make your daily den of doing a deliberate place and space that conjure her cooperation. With writing rituals practiced consistently over time you’ll find it easier to write at will, no matter when and where you may be.

As you become consistent in your writing, your muse will show up more often. When she knows she can trust you to be there, she’ll put you on speed dial. She may or may not listen to you, but chances are better if she can count on you to be present. The muse is like intuition; the more we listen to her the more she trusts us and sends our way.

The Muse needs a receptive audience for her cornucopia of creative ideas ready to spring to life.

When your daily discipline is established, your muse will be there waiting for you, sprinkling stardust ideas faster than you can write.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Writing Rituals are Simply Habits

In the early stages, the rituals are your training wheels. After awhile you’ll be able to glide along with or without them, without a second thought. Eventually the creator and muse merge and you carry her wherever you go and call upon her at will.

Productive habits hack away at the dross that doesn’t belong. You and your muse merge and what’s left is you, your keyboard, and access to the realm of ideas flowing freely from the vast cloud of creativity to your screen.

Are there other kinds of writing rituals you can employ to help you write? Absolutely! You choose the specific rituals that serve you most. What works for us may not be what works best for you.

Jeff Goins of GoinsWriter.com says:

“I can’t overestimate how important this is, to find a way to do something creative that works for you. I know writers who pray a prayer, who wear a lucky sweatshirt, who light a candle… artists who can only work in the middle of the night, who have to put on a suit and tie to go work in their home office just to feel professional.”
SOURCE: GoinsWriter.com

If you want to write a book someday, you need to start writing today.
~Jeff Goins, author, speaker, podcaster

Writing Rituals

Above all, as Jeff Goins said, first and foremost, you find and stick to what works for you. Beyond that, we’re sharing our favorite writing rituals as well as tips and rituals of some of our favorite well known writers.

iCreateDaily Writing Rituals for Success

We like to keep it uber simple so that you’re not overwhelmed at memorizing a list of things to do and to practice. So starting with the absolute essentials and expanding into extras for fun and nuance… because after all… we’re all creatives here and love the extra touches that build the writer’s scene.

One Essential Writing Ritual – Just One Above All Others

1. Consistency – show up to write daily, preferably at the same time each day whenever possible.

Two Writing Rituals to Strengthen Your Craft

1. Setting – create a sacred space and time where you show up to write no matter what to the extent humanly possible.
2. Solace – eliminate all interruptions. Turn off notifications, phones, social sites, etc. Just you and your keyboard… writing.

Three Writer’s Rituals for Flare and Fun

1. Caffeine! We love a nice cup of coffee (my favorite is butter coffee with coconut or MCT oil).
2. Headphones & music – We enjoy alternating silence with inspiring instrumental music. Background music and headphones are especially helpful if you can’t be alone when it’s time to write. We work from home an having on headphones or earbuds is generally understood to be a “Do not disturb” sign.
3. Special talisman – I received a stone as a gift that is etched with the word “Create”, that I sit in the upper right hand side of my laptop.

Some folks have a special hat, or a particular soundtrack. You may already have one or enjoy discovering one that is meaningful to you and signals to your mind and body, what is to come.

“I can’t overestimate how important this is, to find a way to do something creative that works for you.”
~Jeff Goins, author, speaker, podcaster

Famous Writers’ Rituals

And for fun, here are a few famous writers and their writing rituals.

1. Maya Angelou – would booked a hotel room, strip the walls of decor, pour a glass of sherry, lay out her bible, thesaurus and a deck of cards and started writing.
2. Ernest Hemingway and Victor Hugo both used stand-up desks before they were popular, (on our wish list!).
3. Stephen King – writes 2,000 words every day of the year, no matter what, including holidays and birthdays.
4. Leo Tolstoy – also wrote every single day. (You see the theme here..?).
5. Haruki Murakami – International best selling Japanese author – writes every day and keeps the same daily routine while writing a novel.
6. Jeff Goins – I go to the same coffee shop, sit at the same table, drink the same cup of coffee, and write. It’s the same ritual, every day.
7. Steven Pressfield – recites Invocation of the Muse from Homer’s Odyssey (excerpted below).
8. Seth Godin shared in this interview with Chase Jarvis, that every few years he invents a uniform for himself that he wears at work, such as a smock of lab coat. a la, Dr. Godin, reporting to write!

Interview excerpt where Seth Godin talks about his writing smock / lab coat:

“These practices [rituals]… If I put my smock on, there’s a reason. And surgeons are great at this. They wear a mask, they wear gloves. They don’t just say, ‘Yeah… I’m having a coffee and okay, I’ll do some surgery now.’ There’s this process [preparation] that makes you a surgeon.”
~Seth Godin in interview with Chase Jarvis

Train Your Inner Animal

If you have pets, you know they know when it’s feeding time. They’re there waiting for you… bugging you until you finally feed them. Pets catch on quickly to routine. So too will your creative muse. Once you establish the habit, she’ll be there at the ready.

Passage on Rituals by Steven Pressfield

Followed by Pressfield’s favorite writing ritual: the recitation of Invocation of the Muse:

“Rituals are powerful in any creative endeavor because we, the mortal practitioners, are dealing with forces from the unconscious, from the Muse, from the Quantum Soup – and of course we have no way to summon them or bring them forth upon command.

We can only invoke them, which is to say offer up a prayer and render ourselves open to whatever signal we receive from the Great Radio Station in the Sky. Rituals and rites are the signals that we send out. They express our receptivity... announce our quietness and our willingness, even eagerness, to listen. They abnegate ourselves. They renounce ego.”
~Steven Pressfield, interview on MostlyMaths.net

Next: Steven Pressfield’s favorite writing ritual: the recitation of Invocation of the Muse

Invocation of the Muse

from Homer’s Odyssey, translated by T.E. Lawrence

O Divine Poesy
Goddess-daughter of Zeus,
Sustain for me

This song of the various-minded man,
Who after he had plundered
The innermost citadel of hallowed Troy
Was made to stray grievously
About the coasts of men,
The sport of their customs good or bad,
While his heart
Through all the seafaring
Ached in an agony to redeem himself
And bring his company safe home.
Vain hope – for them!

For his fellows he strove in vain,
Their own witlessness cast them away;
The fools,
To destroy for meat
The oxen of the most exalted sun!

Wherefore the sun-god blotted out
The day of their return.
Make the tale live for us
In all its many bearings,
O Muse

From Homer’s Odyssey, translated by T.E. Lawrence

“The repetition itself becomes the most important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.”
~Haruki Murakami, Japanese author, bestseller, b.1/12/1949

Creative Prompts

If you’d like to kickstart your writing, here are some creative prompts to spark your ideation and beckon your muse!

• Short Story Prompts
• Journal Prompts
• Drawing Prompts
• Art Prompts
• Conceptual Prompts

A Case for Journaling and Goals Journals

“I read my old journal (I think it was more like a business plan but in a pretty notebook). Everything I wrote in it I accomplished and some of those things were magical.”
~Katrina Morrison, artist, crafter, owner-Garden Thyme in Bishop Hill

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