What do you do 5 minutes before writing?...

Work out what music I'm going to listen to, get comfy and warm, make sure I don't have anything incredibly pressing to do beforehand.. And off I go.

Make sure all housework is done, make sure telephone is at hand, jug of water, music then sit on reclining armchair with laptop on veranda. Oh, have binoculats also to watch if interesting birds come to the pool or palm trees outside.

Turn on some music, bring up MSN, and talk while writing. It helps me concentrate.

In cooler weather I make hot cocoa. I power up the comp, bring up a playlist to match my mood. I bring up Word and jump to wherever I'm working... read a few prior paragraphs, and let the reality soak in. Once I'm sufficiently drenched, the story moves ahead, things happen, the world changes.

Make green tea.

Make coffee. Fill cup with hot, caffeine-laden coffee. Add a touch of half-n-half. Sip, drink. Aaaaah!

Then write.

Coffee.

Walk dogs so they don't interrupt me.

More coffee.

Get MP3 player, set to playlist to fit whatever WIP I'm working on.

Then a little more coffee.

Depending on my back and shoulder, I'm either at the table, on the couch, or in bed.

Get a bottle of water and turn on the TV in the background.

Check the fridge and make sure there is plenty of beer. If not, rectify the lack of beerness and then start over.

Sit down, turn on the computer, drink an entire can of beer while waiting for the prehistoric computer to do whatever the hell IT does for five minutes before I start writing, go get another beer, turn on either the National Weather Service weather radio, or classical music on the boom box...all for background noise, launch the wip, break a bottle of champagne against the side of the monitor, and head out.

get all housework done- feed horses- cold drink at hand- set playlist on i-pod and settle on sofa with laptop-

I have wonderful scenes, the best dialog, a whole new twist mapped out in my brain…then I stumble around for the next few hours giving the appearance I lost all form of the English language.


....(And there are no shots for it either....)

Power down my laptop. If my wife is in the living room (which is where I do most of my work) I pop on my iPod headphones so I can drown out the TV and not be distracted by it. If she's not around, I turn off the TV and connect my iPod to the Bose and crank it up. I get out my Moleskine journal and my fountain pen, review where I left off to reload my brain, and I start writing.

I'm going to answer this question a bit differently. I will tell you what I do for five minutes before I write FICTION, NON-FICTION, ARTICLES, MEMOIR... or any other kind of non-poetry writing. I write poetry for 5 minutes before jumping into any other kind of writing that I may be doing. I feel it loosens the mind a bit and allows me to move more fluently through my other writing projects.

For the five minutes before the five minutes of poetry... I do whatever it is I'm doing at the time... no set up other than the poetry.

Coffee and a game of internet scrabble.

I open up my documents which I use to write (e. g., the chapter I'm working on and a brief outline, and the dictionary if I feel I need it), often go to wash my hair and sometimes eat breakfast (that might wait until later though), return to browse over what I wrote the day before and see where I left off, then start writing.

Get the coffee. Make sure I know which project I'm working on. Turn on the music. Start writing.

Depends. I might be putting a mirror into someone's car about four minutes before my lunch break, when I'll use that time to scarf down some food and scribble out a scene. I might be browsing AW, catching up on threads, and then switch over to Word. Maybe I just came back from a walk down to Dunkin' Donuts for some iced coffee and am now rarin' to go with some writing.

I don't have a ritutal. I just write. Where I can, when I can.

sharpening a pencil and attaching a sheet of paper to my clipboard.
Like others above, I also get some sort of beverage ready for sipping.

Take a dump. I can't write when I have one touching cloth.

(metaphorically speaking)

What do you do 5 minutes before writing?...

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I stare at the screen, just as I had been doing for the previous hour and ten minutes.

You mean others do it differently?

Righting said:

I'll grab a glass of orange juice - if we are out of it then coffee - i'll look for some place to put my laptop - and then i'm off meeting new characters and places - it's the best time of the day.

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Get in my car so I can drive to the library. I always write there. It's about a five-minute drive.

Run around like a chicken sans head grabbing soccer gear, water bottles and kids. Toss backpack with cheap spiral and pen, drive to soccer fields, release pent up children, kick back and write.

Surf the net...get distracted reading Absolute Write forums...procrastinate for two hours, yell at the dogs for annoying me...then at around 11pm, I pour 2000 words onto the page.

Repeat daily.