Sunday, April 29, 2012

I'm not OCD, I'm Ritualistic

I've been watching Twitter feeds from the various people I follow, and one of the things I keep seeing are mentions of story "soundtracks". Basically, it is a song, or songs, that the writer listens to while writing a particular piece or scene. Being the OCD...er...ritualistic people that we are, I'm guessing there are other "rituals" that my fellow writers go through before starting to write. I know I have several. And because I'm nice, and maybe a little narcissistic (who isn't?), I will share them with you.  Now, I will point out that this is just for my current WIP, which happens to be a YA High Fantasy book.

So here it goes.

  1. I cannot wear socks while writing.  I'm not sure why, but I have to have bare feet. If I wear socks, I get to warm and can't think.
  2. I have to have tea or ice water to the right of my keyboard. Yes, I do drink it.
  3. I have to take about 30 minutes to get settled (depending on how focused I am when I sit down). This is the only one that is not constant.
  4. Music. Yes, I must have music. I can write without, but it doesn't feel comfortable. In the case of my current WIP, I have to listen to classical music, or at least neo-classical. My current listening list includes: Mozart's Requiem, Brahm's Requiem, E.S. Posthumus, and Escala. I have also listened to Beethoven, among other classical greats. If I try to write to anything else, it doesn't work (at least for this WIP).
The interesting thing about #4 is that I was able to listen to a completely different style of music for a short-story that I was writing for my creative writing class. I'm not sure why this works, but it does. I guess my current story has its own soundtrack.

So, what writing OCD moments...er...rituals do you have?

'Till Next time.

Oh, and we can't talk about OCDs without a picture from everyone's favorite OCD detective...you all know who I'm talking about.


One last thing, if you haven't signed up for the #writemotivation movement on Twitter? You should. Click the #writemotivation picture on the right hand side of the screen (not where Monk is pointing..although that would be awesome!).

8 comments:

  1. I can't write if my apartment is messy.I can write to basically any kind of music, but it has to be set at a certain volume-not too loud, not too soft. My feet are inevitably perched on my coffee table. My beverage must be within reach on coffee table, as does the lip goo. I will undoubtedly be remembering many more weird little quirks as soon as I post this comment :)

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    1. Yes, I can understand the messy apartment distraction. Luckily, that isn't an issue with me, otherwise, I would have a really clean house and no writing done. :D

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  2. I'm just ocd lol. I focus on one thing at a time hehe. Plot. Write in a frenzy. Do other stuff. :D

    No music for me - and I hate socks all the time. Hate hot feet - maybe it's a writer thing hehe.

    Also - I LOVE Monk!

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    1. Yes, Monk is awesome. The hot feet really irritates me when I'm writing as well.

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  3. No music for me. I get too caught up in enjoying what I'm listening to and can't focus. I guess the only ritual I really have is lots of pre-writing procrastination: twitter, email, web surfing, even just pacing around the house mumbling that I should be writing. :-)

    Wishing you a very productive #writemotivation month,
    Jocelyn

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    1. I think you just described a lot of us in that statement. :D Good #writemotivation month to you too. :D

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