Ah, I love this! And you're in good company! In interviews for my second DR book, both Miranda July and Isabel Allende told me that they have to get properly dressed up before they can go into their office/studio and get to work. (I usually work in comfy/slobby clothes, but this is making me rethink that habit...)
I do the same thing!! even if I'm just at home, I'll put on lipstick as a way of "showing up" and being presentable for my writing, the same way I'd show up properly dressed for a friend's party
To signal to my brain that I'm going to be writing or doing creative work, I go out to my studio. I realize I'm fortunate to have such a spot. I always call out "HI!" when I get there... simply because I'm always happy to see it and be inside it. I look around, taking in all the evidence of previous work, and I smell the studio air smell (which - ya - I don't know what that is). I used to put my phone away in a special box I decorated for that purpose, but I haven't done that in a long time. You've reminded me that I really need to start doing that again. Thanks Mason.
Yes! I should have mentioned: Moving into a different physical space is maybe *the* best way to move into another headspace. So glad you have this studio routine! It also reminds me that the filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki begins every workday by walking around his empty studio building calling out "good morning" into all the rooms (he says he's greeting all the other "residents" 👻)
a womb of one's own lol. sometimes I have to make a cup of hot chocolate even if I don't want to drink it! the sight of sprinkles and whipped cream says to my brain: it's okay, fun is allowed here :)
I first make some chai tea, ideally sitting in the quiet and doing some deep breathing while the tea steeps. Even the smell can be enough to trigger the writing impulse. Then I listen to one of a handful of songs that prepare me to write. The important thing is to not start writing until the song is over—and to resist the temptation to check email or look at my phone. Then I'm ready.
The smell, yes! I think there can be something really powerful about creating a sensory trigger like this — I think it gets around or past our conscious mind, in a way . . . And the the song trick is super cool, too. Making yourself wait to start writing! I will have to try this. Thanks for sharing.
Oh man, that feels weirdly vulnerable to reveal those lol.
It varies based on the project, but generally it's one of Lord Huron's songs. Their weird, cinematic Western/Americana vibe gets me right into the correct headspace.
Three quick items that may be helpful/interesting …
First - My writing ritual is fixing coffee, listening to my current favorite chill song (“Pdp7” by Chiai Nagano) in my headset with my journal to take quick notes and my MacBook ready to go. This way I flow from thoughts and ideas into typing. If I am having a slow start, I’ll revisit in my mind the portion of Haruki Murakami’s “Cream” short story on doing hard things. This jump starts creativity for me.
Second - Since I discovered your “Ritual” books I reference them in my communication work with clients. Most of clients work in technical/STEM fields who are uncomfortable with “getting creative”. The books provide them with a guide of sorts.
Lastly - When I meet people I like and click with they get your two books as gifts. I’ll jot a note in the front and wrap them in Japanese gift paper. This has always been received well. It’s a practice I recommend people to consider.
Thanks for sharing, Chad. I need to read the Murakami short story you mentioned! Sometimes I will listen to a *not* chill song to get myself going ... but not usually first thing in the AM, more like a late-in-the-day trying-to-kickstart-myself trick (doesn't always work).
And that's so cool about sharing my books with clients/friends! Thank you, that's really gratifying to read 🥹 🙏
This is a timely post for me, as I just realized I needed to romanticize the routine of opening up my WIP for work. I have had great luck with my "evening morning pages." When I get home from work, I divest the uncomfortable bits of my office clothes and settle at my desk -- sometimes with a chai I picked up on the way home, maybe just a glass of water -- and enjoy the end of the day light filtering in through the curtains and blinds as I write my three pages longhand. I feel happy and lucky to be there, right then, enjoying that moment. I have not yet been able to capture the same feeling when, after dinner, it's time to pick up my laptop for some work on my novel. Usually I just sit on the couch and crank up some music loud enough to drown out my mom's ebook (she's nearly deaf) in the next room. It is not pleasurable at all! I can make myself do it, but I don't enjoy it. Thus, the need to romance the process. I'm still vetting ideas. Perhaps I need a feather boa, a la Danielle Steele.
"Romance the process" — yes! That should have been my headline, lol. Glad this is giving you some inspiration. Pretty sure you would not regret the feather boa . . .
My favorite writing ritual (winter only, for some reason): When I sit down to write, I'll light a pillar candle and I can't blow it out until I've fully exhausted myself for the day. Something about the wax very literally burning away, as time passes, gives me an exciting amount of urgency—I can't waste the candle by checking my phone!
If I have a weekend day available to me and I REALLY need to finish a piece…then I'll light a scented candle, which requires a longer burn time and is more expensive. It's a way of committing to a few hours of focused writing, since I can't just blow out the candle a pitiful 20 minutes in and go do something else instead.
I love this!! I feel like creating urgency is a huge part of writing over the long haul, and this is such a clever way (or two ways) to do that. Thank you for sharing!
A drawer of rotting apples. This is the best ritual I’ve heard. Thank you for sharing it. When I’m driving to a location to shoot a scene, my ritual is to listen to old-school country music, because it reminds me of high school in Texas, when I had dreams but was not yet applying massive pressure to myself. Your post has helped me realize I should make formal a ritual I already sort of abided by: I try not to listen to ‘80s pop music unless I’m about to write, because hearing top 40 hits from that era makes me feel like I’m dropping into a writing state of mind. So, now, this’ll be my ritual, for real! I’ll pick one ‘80s song for a few weeks, that will cue my brain. My first pick is Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s If I Take You Home.
Ah, I love the part about reminding yourself of an age when you had dreams but hadn't started applying massive pressure on yourself!!! I may have to steal that . . . though the '80s pop hits also sound very energizing!
My summer and winter routines vary. As it's summer right now I make coffee and journal on my front deck watching the dog walkers and attacking my to-do lists.
Then it's 20 minutes of yoga and down to my desk where I write for 90 minutes. It is CRITICAL that I listen to brain.fm on my headphones to help me get into deep work. Highly recommended!
I love the idea of changing up the routine to bring in some joy and may start to sprinkle that in. Thanks for sharing ♥️
Make tea and breathe - light incense - sit at desk in state of calm - and write - pink rose quartz crystal on my lap if I want it - until one of my kittens come to join me! 💗
Soooooo helpful - keep it coming - very intrigued by this purposeful distinction between ritual and routine- can routine also be ritual but ritual not routine …. Hmmmmm🤔
Thank you! I usually think of routine as more of the framework and ritual as the specific behavior (or cluster of behaviors). So your routine might be to get up and write for two hours, but the ritual might be making the coffee, putting on a certain outfit, lighting a candle, whatever. But I think they're both about training your mind to access a certain kind of energy or get into a particular type of mental state.
For me, it’s all about putting my phone aside… so hard to do when there are so many Substacks to read, including yours! I’ve tried putting my phone in a drawer so I can’t see it. That kind of works… thank you Mason — enjoying your tips and insights.
Thanks, Debbie! I do think just putting the phone out of sight / out of reach can make a big difference. Otherwise it's so easy to pick it up without even thinking. And usually I pick it up at exactly the moment when I might otherwise have let my mind wander a bit — exactly the kind of mental state we all need to protect!
First thing upon waking, adjust house temperature, turn off nightlife and open kitchen blinds to see what's doing in the neighborhood. Then back to bed to journal and read a few morning emails.
Ooh, I like the manipulation of temperature as part of the ritual — that's something I haven't thought much about. (I think I generally think/write better when it's cold out, which makes the current season a little tricky.)
I hear the plane at six in the morning, get up, get dressed and leave the house to get coffee. I return at twenty after six, leave the coffee with cream on the side for my partner of twenty-six years (Shelley). I go to my house, make coffee and spend about an hour and a half re-reading poems I’ve written, jotting down ideas for new ones and attending to correspondence before returning to Shelley’s. Our routine requires that we complete the NYT Spelling Bee at the Queen Bee level, complete NYT Connections, and Wordle. She asks me to read to her. For the last year we’ve been reading an artist a day aloud from Mason’s books , Daily Rituals and Daily Rituals of Women at Work. We are half-way through the latter. After that, we talk a bit about the upcoming day. Her projects, my projects. She’s a visual artist and her entire house is her studio. We go our separate ways, but keep in touch checking off the practicalities of living (doctor’s appointments, shopping, family, home maintenance...all of it) while working on our own projects, or projects we might be working on together. She has too many ideas and not enough time. I have to work harder for my ideas. When I get stuck, I take out my magical Pelican fountain pen and go retro. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not. Habit, routine, compulsion, magical thinking or ritual? I find the answer to that question fascinating.
I consider myself invisible to my work until I put earrings on. Big project? Glasses & sometimes lipstick. The costume is essential.
Ah, I love this! And you're in good company! In interviews for my second DR book, both Miranda July and Isabel Allende told me that they have to get properly dressed up before they can go into their office/studio and get to work. (I usually work in comfy/slobby clothes, but this is making me rethink that habit...)
I do the same thing!! even if I'm just at home, I'll put on lipstick as a way of "showing up" and being presentable for my writing, the same way I'd show up properly dressed for a friend's party
PS Celine I love your newsletter! Research as leisure activity 4 life. 🫶🏼
ah!! thank you Lisette 💌
Yes! Yes! Yes!
To signal to my brain that I'm going to be writing or doing creative work, I go out to my studio. I realize I'm fortunate to have such a spot. I always call out "HI!" when I get there... simply because I'm always happy to see it and be inside it. I look around, taking in all the evidence of previous work, and I smell the studio air smell (which - ya - I don't know what that is). I used to put my phone away in a special box I decorated for that purpose, but I haven't done that in a long time. You've reminded me that I really need to start doing that again. Thanks Mason.
Yes! I should have mentioned: Moving into a different physical space is maybe *the* best way to move into another headspace. So glad you have this studio routine! It also reminds me that the filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki begins every workday by walking around his empty studio building calling out "good morning" into all the rooms (he says he's greeting all the other "residents" 👻)
Amazing! I'm chuffed to be associated with Hayao Miyazaki, even in the flimsiest way 👀😅
a womb of one's own lol. sometimes I have to make a cup of hot chocolate even if I don't want to drink it! the sight of sprinkles and whipped cream says to my brain: it's okay, fun is allowed here :)
Yes!! Excellent ritual! Need more sprinkles in my writing life . . .
I first make some chai tea, ideally sitting in the quiet and doing some deep breathing while the tea steeps. Even the smell can be enough to trigger the writing impulse. Then I listen to one of a handful of songs that prepare me to write. The important thing is to not start writing until the song is over—and to resist the temptation to check email or look at my phone. Then I'm ready.
The smell, yes! I think there can be something really powerful about creating a sensory trigger like this — I think it gets around or past our conscious mind, in a way . . . And the the song trick is super cool, too. Making yourself wait to start writing! I will have to try this. Thanks for sharing.
Must know the songs!
Oh man, that feels weirdly vulnerable to reveal those lol.
It varies based on the project, but generally it's one of Lord Huron's songs. Their weird, cinematic Western/Americana vibe gets me right into the correct headspace.
Three quick items that may be helpful/interesting …
First - My writing ritual is fixing coffee, listening to my current favorite chill song (“Pdp7” by Chiai Nagano) in my headset with my journal to take quick notes and my MacBook ready to go. This way I flow from thoughts and ideas into typing. If I am having a slow start, I’ll revisit in my mind the portion of Haruki Murakami’s “Cream” short story on doing hard things. This jump starts creativity for me.
Second - Since I discovered your “Ritual” books I reference them in my communication work with clients. Most of clients work in technical/STEM fields who are uncomfortable with “getting creative”. The books provide them with a guide of sorts.
Lastly - When I meet people I like and click with they get your two books as gifts. I’ll jot a note in the front and wrap them in Japanese gift paper. This has always been received well. It’s a practice I recommend people to consider.
Thanks for sharing, Chad. I need to read the Murakami short story you mentioned! Sometimes I will listen to a *not* chill song to get myself going ... but not usually first thing in the AM, more like a late-in-the-day trying-to-kickstart-myself trick (doesn't always work).
And that's so cool about sharing my books with clients/friends! Thank you, that's really gratifying to read 🥹 🙏
This is a timely post for me, as I just realized I needed to romanticize the routine of opening up my WIP for work. I have had great luck with my "evening morning pages." When I get home from work, I divest the uncomfortable bits of my office clothes and settle at my desk -- sometimes with a chai I picked up on the way home, maybe just a glass of water -- and enjoy the end of the day light filtering in through the curtains and blinds as I write my three pages longhand. I feel happy and lucky to be there, right then, enjoying that moment. I have not yet been able to capture the same feeling when, after dinner, it's time to pick up my laptop for some work on my novel. Usually I just sit on the couch and crank up some music loud enough to drown out my mom's ebook (she's nearly deaf) in the next room. It is not pleasurable at all! I can make myself do it, but I don't enjoy it. Thus, the need to romance the process. I'm still vetting ideas. Perhaps I need a feather boa, a la Danielle Steele.
"Romance the process" — yes! That should have been my headline, lol. Glad this is giving you some inspiration. Pretty sure you would not regret the feather boa . . .
My favorite writing ritual (winter only, for some reason): When I sit down to write, I'll light a pillar candle and I can't blow it out until I've fully exhausted myself for the day. Something about the wax very literally burning away, as time passes, gives me an exciting amount of urgency—I can't waste the candle by checking my phone!
If I have a weekend day available to me and I REALLY need to finish a piece…then I'll light a scented candle, which requires a longer burn time and is more expensive. It's a way of committing to a few hours of focused writing, since I can't just blow out the candle a pitiful 20 minutes in and go do something else instead.
I love this!! I feel like creating urgency is a huge part of writing over the long haul, and this is such a clever way (or two ways) to do that. Thank you for sharing!
of course!! and thank you for Worm School—so useful to have a place to show up daily and write with others!!
Worm Zoom mornings is my new ritual!
🌞🪱✍️
Me too! Thanks for joining us, it's so cool to see our little group of sleepy faces assembling in the semi-darkness each morning.
A drawer of rotting apples. This is the best ritual I’ve heard. Thank you for sharing it. When I’m driving to a location to shoot a scene, my ritual is to listen to old-school country music, because it reminds me of high school in Texas, when I had dreams but was not yet applying massive pressure to myself. Your post has helped me realize I should make formal a ritual I already sort of abided by: I try not to listen to ‘80s pop music unless I’m about to write, because hearing top 40 hits from that era makes me feel like I’m dropping into a writing state of mind. So, now, this’ll be my ritual, for real! I’ll pick one ‘80s song for a few weeks, that will cue my brain. My first pick is Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s If I Take You Home.
Ah, I love the part about reminding yourself of an age when you had dreams but hadn't started applying massive pressure on yourself!!! I may have to steal that . . . though the '80s pop hits also sound very energizing!
My summer and winter routines vary. As it's summer right now I make coffee and journal on my front deck watching the dog walkers and attacking my to-do lists.
Then it's 20 minutes of yoga and down to my desk where I write for 90 minutes. It is CRITICAL that I listen to brain.fm on my headphones to help me get into deep work. Highly recommended!
I love the idea of changing up the routine to bring in some joy and may start to sprinkle that in. Thanks for sharing ♥️
Ooh, have never heard of brain.fm — may have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!
Make tea and breathe - light incense - sit at desk in state of calm - and write - pink rose quartz crystal on my lap if I want it - until one of my kittens come to join me! 💗
This sounds very soothing!
Soooooo helpful - keep it coming - very intrigued by this purposeful distinction between ritual and routine- can routine also be ritual but ritual not routine …. Hmmmmm🤔
Thank you! I usually think of routine as more of the framework and ritual as the specific behavior (or cluster of behaviors). So your routine might be to get up and write for two hours, but the ritual might be making the coffee, putting on a certain outfit, lighting a candle, whatever. But I think they're both about training your mind to access a certain kind of energy or get into a particular type of mental state.
Yea, that makes sense to me . Thanks for the clarification (:
For me, it’s all about putting my phone aside… so hard to do when there are so many Substacks to read, including yours! I’ve tried putting my phone in a drawer so I can’t see it. That kind of works… thank you Mason — enjoying your tips and insights.
Thanks, Debbie! I do think just putting the phone out of sight / out of reach can make a big difference. Otherwise it's so easy to pick it up without even thinking. And usually I pick it up at exactly the moment when I might otherwise have let my mind wander a bit — exactly the kind of mental state we all need to protect!
First thing upon waking, adjust house temperature, turn off nightlife and open kitchen blinds to see what's doing in the neighborhood. Then back to bed to journal and read a few morning emails.
Ooh, I like the manipulation of temperature as part of the ritual — that's something I haven't thought much about. (I think I generally think/write better when it's cold out, which makes the current season a little tricky.)
I hear the plane at six in the morning, get up, get dressed and leave the house to get coffee. I return at twenty after six, leave the coffee with cream on the side for my partner of twenty-six years (Shelley). I go to my house, make coffee and spend about an hour and a half re-reading poems I’ve written, jotting down ideas for new ones and attending to correspondence before returning to Shelley’s. Our routine requires that we complete the NYT Spelling Bee at the Queen Bee level, complete NYT Connections, and Wordle. She asks me to read to her. For the last year we’ve been reading an artist a day aloud from Mason’s books , Daily Rituals and Daily Rituals of Women at Work. We are half-way through the latter. After that, we talk a bit about the upcoming day. Her projects, my projects. She’s a visual artist and her entire house is her studio. We go our separate ways, but keep in touch checking off the practicalities of living (doctor’s appointments, shopping, family, home maintenance...all of it) while working on our own projects, or projects we might be working on together. She has too many ideas and not enough time. I have to work harder for my ideas. When I get stuck, I take out my magical Pelican fountain pen and go retro. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not. Habit, routine, compulsion, magical thinking or ritual? I find the answer to that question fascinating.
Love this detailed and finely honed dual routine — bravo! And flattered that my books are a part of it 🥰 Thank you for sharing!
OMG so in love with Patricia Highsmith and her cigarettes, coffee and donut!
I know! And all in bed!
Whoa that is next level.