Sharpen the Pencils
Anyone who’s ever written knows most have to “sharpen those pencils”. I told myself I needed to get after the writing…so…. in conjunction with that I’ve delved deeply into the above metaphor: organized rooms in the house, fixed things that needed fixin, filled in the appropriate boxes on paperwork that needed sent of for various projects, hauled tree limbs to the dump, put a new battery and two new tires on the Blazer, printed a copy of Fort Davis for Barbara to critique, and a multitude of other chores and ends to projects…
Because, as every writer knows, once those areas of procrastination have served their purpose, it will be time to sit, court the Muse, and make that blinking cursor work across that blank page.
Do you have a Ritual you perform before you get down to: writing (in my case), exercising, working, gardening, running, etc.
As Bill Adams, retired (!)social worker/journalist, I am usually first up in the household, if you do not count the cat who acts as my alarm clock, sometimes as early as 1:30 am, or as late as four-ish. He gets a treat, a faucet drink, sometimes encouragement to go out on patrol. I need to be quiet to let wife sleep. Our daily paper is usually on the lawn by 5. I read that, or a book, make coffee and have my share, and check the computer for favorite sites: FB, e-mail, Washington Post advice columns and overnight news or opinion (I have a free on-line subscription that came with my print subscription to the San Angelo Standard-Times,) so I have the right to post comments on all Post articles. In 18 months I have commented 1600 times. The advice readers who comment are kind of a regular group, from D.C. to Texas to Australia, likely four women to every man, but it is almost like having friends. By the time I am done with that, it's time to catch up on TV news…MSNBC and CNN and C-SPAN on low volume. Eventually Mickey gets up and we decide on breakfast, review the expected chores for the day, and get dressed to do what's needed. But an hour or two of pre-dawn solo time to sit and read and think and opine has become a pleasant habit. I find myself going to bed earlier and getting out of it earlier than when I had an 8-5 full-time career. What I miss most about working, other than the paycheck, is the sense of usefulness that came with it, and the occasional compliments from clients or co-workers that I did something well. I don't miss the pressure to not miss a day's work, to get five things done in an hour when the first three things on the list usually needed the hour in order to be done well. The last five-year career required a lot of city driving and flexibility in lunch breaks. The 24-year career before than required being on call seven days and nights at a time, once a month at a minimum, twice a month sometimes. My first career demanded both day and evening work and every Saturday. All jobs have their joys and strains. Retirement so far has had more joy and less strain. In my work life, my morning rituals involved coffee, breakfast, shower, shave, dressing and commuting, usually all of it more quickly than I wanted to. These new rituals are really nice compared to that, and can be changed when something better comes along.