Ah, writing rituals. Some people swear by them. Others roll their eyes and just write whenever they can (I, for one, have every writing app I used on my desktop also on my cell phone, so I literally write anywhere I can. Yes, even there). And then there are those who take things a little too far—you know, the ones who insist they can’t write unless Mercury is in retrograde and they have exactly three cinnamon-scented candles burning in the room.
The truth is, we all have rituals, even if we don’t call them that. Maybe you need a cup of coffee before you write. Maybe you can only draft in the Notes app at 2 a.m. because you think sleep is optional. When I was writing Harry Strange, I did most of my writing from 11-3 a.m. It was so much of a ritual, that my wife bought be a little bear we named “Night Writer”.
Maybe you tell yourself you don’t have a ritual—except, of course, that you can’t start until you’ve wasted 45 minutes doom-scrolling Facebook (sooo much doom).
So, let’s talk about what actually helps, what’s just writerly superstition, and why you should probably stop believing everything Hemingway supposedly said.
The Hemingway Myth (or, Stop Romanticizing Liver Damage)
You’ve probably heard the phrase: “Write drunk, edit sober.”
It’s cute. It’s rebellious. It sounds exactly like something Hemingway would say.
One problem: there’s no actual evidence he ever said it.
There are no letters, no interviews, no drunken bar napkins scrawled with those words. If Hemingway had a writing ritual, it certainly wasn’t chugging whiskey while pounding out The Old Man and the Sea. (Though, to be fair, if I had to write about an old guy and a fish for 100 pages, I’d probably need a drink too.)
In reality, Hemingway’s process was much more disciplined. He woke up early, wrote standing up (weird flex, but okay), and tracked his word count with the precision of a man who had bet his last bottle of rum on it.
So, if you’ve been using that quote as an excuse to drink your way through a first draft, sorry to break it to you. But hey, you do you—this is a safe space.
What Actually Works (And What’s Just Writerly Voodoo)
There’s no one-size-fits-all ritual for writing, but there are a few things that may help:
✅ 1. Consistency Over Ceremony
Sure, having a special notebook or a lucky pen might feel inspiring, but the best writing ritual is the one that gets you to show up regularly. If you only write when the vibes are right, you’ll be lucky to finish a paragraph before the decade is over. To be fair, I have many notes books and love to do first drafts in fountain pen; but I try to write everyday regardless of the medium.
✅ 2. Your Brain Needs a Warm-Up
Athletes stretch. Musicians do scales. Writers? We stare at the blinking cursor like it owes us money. The best way to kickstart creativity is to write anything, even if it’s garbage. A quick free-write, a journal entry, an angry letter to your insurance company—anything to get the words flowing.
✅ 3. Know When You Work Best
Some people swear by writing at dawn. Others write best at night, powered by existential dread and caffeine (see the bear above). Pay attention to when your brain actually functions, and build your writing time around that.
✅ 4. Make It Easy to Start
If your writing process requires three hours of setting up a mood, you’re already losing. Simplify it. Need coffee? Great. Need a playlist? Fine. Need to chant an ancient spell in Latin? Okay, but don’t overcomplicate things.
Things That Don’t Matter (But Writers Pretend They Do)
🚫 The Perfect Desk Setup – That $500 ergonomic chair won’t make you a better writer. It’ll just give you back support while you procrastinate.
🚫 Aesthetic Writing Sessions – You don’t need a typewriter, a Parisian café, or a sweater that looks like you teach poetry at a small liberal arts college. You need words on a page.
🚫 “Inspiration” – If you wait for inspiration, you’ll be waiting forever. It’s unreliable. The real trick? Start writing even when you don’t feel like it. The muse follows action, not the other way around.
Final Thoughts: Find What Works (But Don’t Get Weird About It)
At the end of the day, your writing ritual should serve you, not the other way around. If lighting a candle helps, great. If you need a specific playlist, awesome. But don’t get so wrapped up in the ceremony that you forget the point: the writing itself.
And please, let’s retire the whole “write drunk” myth. The world already has enough bad writing. It doesn’t need more of it slurred.
Now, go find your ritual—and for the love of literature, actually write something.
Tony Sarrecchia Feb.2025
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I love this! Although I’m ALWAYS “powered by existential dread and caffeine,” not just at night.