{"id":631,"date":"2015-06-03T03:16:33","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T03:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=631"},"modified":"2015-06-03T03:16:33","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T03:16:33","slug":"shortstops-libraries-and-tyler-avenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=631","title":{"rendered":"Shortstops, Libraries and Tyler Avenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you spent a weekend with the crew at Grandma Fischer\u2019s, you spent it their way. Growing up, more than a few of my weekends went like this: Saturday night was Lawrence Welk, then whatever cop show was on, then everybody got to bed, on time. Sunday morning call came on time. And so forth until we trooped the three blocks to St. Raphael, on time. Afterward, and also on schedule, came the Krispy Kremes. Later, if the housework\u00a0kept on schedule, the ladies would crack open a beer. Ah, Sunday.<\/p>\n

Life on Tyler Avenue ran by ritual.<\/p>\n

Great, you\u2019re thinking, a fine story. But what does it have to do with writing?<\/p>\n

The ritual part. For Grandma Fischer, the repeated practice of a productive weekend. For writers, a key to productivity.<\/p>\n

Back then in Louisville, if you were a kid into baseball, you rooted for the Big Red Machine<\/a>. Their shortstop was Dave Concepcion,\u00a0a hell of player. He could field, he could run, and he could hit.\u00a0And I\u00a0can\u2019t remember him ever stepping up to the plate without a lightning-quick Sign of the Cross. Baseball. It takes\u00a0fast hands.<\/p>\n

Ritual.<\/p>\n

The authors of\u00a0The Power of Full Engagement<\/em> are consultants who worked with both high and low-performing business\u00a0execs, professionals of various fields,\u00a0and even some major athletes. Consistent across the top performer clients are the rituals they wove into their life. They fill their days with routines and reminders of self-purpose that maximize capacity and keep them on task. Conversely, a lack of intentionality–and of\u00a0daily ritual–sapped the low rungers of energy. The big takeaway: Rituals become habits,\u00a0our auto-energy boosters and course-correctors. Excellence, says Aristotle, is not an act but a habit. If it works for philosophy and high-end consulting and batting .290, it\u2019ll work for authors.<\/p>\n

At Killer Nashville<\/a> a few years ago, Peter Straub described how every morning he put on his suit and tie and walked to the New York Main Library. Writing was his job, the library his office.\u00a0I’ve heard\u00a0Anne Perry\u00a0speak of her writing pads and room with a view and Nelson DeMille say\u00a0much\u00a0the same but with a smoke in hand. William Faulkner infamously said that he needed inspiration to write, which was why he made sure inspiration arrived every morning at 9AM.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d seen the same benefits in my day jobs, me hip-wader deep in business processes. I\u2019ve coached the opposite in healthcare, and yet with writing it took me a load of failed and inconsistent output to slap my forehead V-8 style and connect the dots: Writing needs process. Ritual.<\/p>\n

My prime creative time is mid-to-late morning, after a walk and a jolt of Diet Coke. With late afternoon exer-cise, I can have a second productive wave in the evening. My brain needs plenty of blood. Oh, and music that puts me in the right frame of mind, often the Rat Pack if I have humor writing ahead. Music helps, but only before a writing session, never during. I edit in a different space than where I draft. I don’t do personal tasks in either\u00a0place. I write\u00a0evenings and weekends, but I Write Something every day to keep those ritual fires burning.\u00a0The fires, man, that’s what it’s about. So long as I worry\u00a0as much\u00a0about how I\u2019m writing than what I\u2019m writing,\u00a0I\u2019ll keep\u00a0writing…and better.<\/p>\n

What works for me won\u2019t work for you, but trust me, a ritual waits\u00a0for every writer. If you\u2019re struggling with a manuscript problem or for fresh ideas or to block off creative time, step back and think about creative energy first. About rituals.\u00a0What summons\u00a0ideas\u00a0to mind and you into the chair, both on time. Faulkner’s muse clocked in at nine. Does yours have a time?<\/p>\n

Which isn\u2019t to say ritual is\u00a0easy. Rewarding ain’t ever\u00a0easy.\u00a0Me, I\u2019m distracted by shiny objects or Pressing Issues,\u00a0and I’m\u00a0habitually quick to snap flow\u00a0for minor research or editing. Some days I fight for a complete thought, let alone a compelling sentence. Those are the\u00a0times I need ritual most. Otherwise, sooner or later I\u2019d get up from the chair. And stay gone.<\/p>\n

Grandma Fischer taught me better than that.<\/p>\n

first published in\u00a0<\/em>The Crime Scene (SinC Middle Tennessee)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you spent a weekend with the crew at Grandma Fischer\u2019s, you spent it their way. Growing up, more than a few of my weekends went like this: Saturday night was Lawrence Welk, then whatever cop show was on, then everybody got to bed, on time. Sunday morning call came on time. And so forth… Continue reading Shortstops, Libraries and Tyler Avenue<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[90,89,5],"class_list":["post-631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-whole-writing-thing","tag-big-red-machine","tag-rituals","tag-writing","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3CG0W-ab","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=1133","url_meta":{"origin":631,"position":0},"title":"Music Speaks, No Mistake","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"February 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In Twelfth Night Shakespeare dubbed music the food of love. Beethoven considered it a higher revelation than wisdom or philosophy. Nietzsche said without music, life would be a mistake. To him, and he wasn\u2019t the sunniest of guys, music exalted the soul. Little wonder few topics get writers going--or even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "This Whole Writing Thing"","block_context":{"text":"This Whole Writing Thing","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image result for Music Free Clip Art","src":"https:\/\/tse3.mm.bing.net\/th?id=OIP.gIO1oe71z8qia_F-0bzwrgHaDV&w=273&h=134&c=7&o=5&dpr=1.25&pid=1.7","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1605,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=1605","url_meta":{"origin":631,"position":1},"title":"Paris Always Wins: Behind “The Montparnasse Moon Shot”","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"March 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Bob's Spot in Paris There is a particular spot in Paris I go whenever there. 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