What gets you in the mood to write? Someone asked me this the other day.
Writing, I answered. Writing is the only thing that reliably gets me in the mood to write.
That means that, most of the time, when I sit down to write, I don’t feel like doing it. I’d rather carry on with the admin I’ve started, tick some more emails off my list, make a phone call I’ve been putting off. I’d rather have a snack. I’d rather check the news (again). I’d rather empty the dishwasher. There is always something else that I’d rather do instead of writing, ‘productive’ or otherwise. It’s so easy to let writing take the back seat, especially if being in the mood is a prerequisite.
And so I have to make myself write, because the only way to feel like doing it is to start doing it.
Which begs the question, how do you make yourself write?
Here’s how I do it:
1. Schedule writing time in my diary (and don’t freak out if I end up sitting down later than my diary tells me I should).
2. When the time comes, make myself a cup of tea in my writing mug (one of my primary writing rituals).
3. Take out my Daily Pages notebook and write my three pages.
4. Look at the instructions I left for myself last time and choose a place to begin.
5. Set my timer and start.
I find that the sooner I stop waiting to get in the mood to write, the sooner I actually find myself in the mood. Basically, I write my way into it.