Some of these just seem downright bizarre. But the mind works in mysterious ways and some seem more like process or getting in the zone than just being quirky and weird.
I think forming habits that get your brain ready to do X task can be really helpful. They tell you not to do anything in bed except for sleep so your body knows when you are in bed it's sleep time. You can also apply the same with anything you force yourself to do.
When I was living in New York I was freelance shooting and editing these horrid product videos. They would send me a box of 20-40 products, usually little promo items that lit up or had audio chips or whatever. I'd set up my "lights", shoot them, and edit them together with some background music.
But before I got a system down and could knock them out, it was a pain in the ass. I'd shoot and then edit and have to reshoot because it was out of focus or the continuity was broken or I forgot a shot. It was an ordeal to get my ass motivated enough to do the goddamn boring work. Then one day I put on my Bob Dylan / Grateful Dead playlist and went at it. To anyone else these two artists mean nothing but I had 3 tapes when I was a kid and it was Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead. So when I hear those songs I get happy and nostalgic and can pretty much be motivated to do anything.
So the next time I needed to knock out some of these videos I did the same. Music on. Lights on. Shoot. Edit. Whiskey. Rinse. Repeat. Done. After a couple rounds of this, I could hear Bob Dylan or Grateful Dead and have the sudden bizarre desire to shoot and edit horrid product videos.
Eating, music, smelling - they are all the same sorts of things. Tricking your body into being solely focused on the task at hand. It's time to write, to be inspired, to knock it out. Do it long enough and your brain will connect these two things in your mind forever. If one part is missing you will surely feel off.
Billy Joel is usually my go-to music when I need some inspiration. I like to draw/write on my down time. O'l Billy puts out just the right kinds of vibes to get me in the zone.
- ack Kerouac was especially partial to scrolling: In 1951, planning the book for years and amassing ample notes in his journals, he wrote On The Road in one feverish burst, letting it pour onto pages taped together into one enormously long strip of paper
Aside: kleinbl00, I think you'd enjoy this read -also, how is your friends documentary on vintage typewriters going? Is it completed? If so, where can I view?
Dunno. All this "I must do X to write" has always struck me as twee to the point of irritating. I have my preferences but anybody who needs their magic pencil in order to compose is looking for an excuse.
As far as the loading of paper, I disagree wholeheartedly. Banging through pages is an actual, physical process and loading a new sheet isn't much harder than hitting the carriage return. Not only that, but hey - there's a finished page there! By way of comparison, in order to get some sort of grasp on what the hell I'd accomplished at any given time I'd play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey with this site. "It's as long as The Old Man And The Sea.. It's as long as Catcher In The Rye. It's as long as Joy Luck Club. It's as long as Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." It took me some hunting around to put it in perspective; finished, without editing, it's within 1500 words of this. Compare and contrast - once I had it to the point of editing, I had Scrivener reformat it for galley. It was only then that I discovered it would take about a ream and a quarter just to print the fucker out... presuming I made no mistakes.
The documentary is on Hulu.
My first (of four) majors in college was literature. I wanted to be a writer, but not because I thought I had anything interesting to say. It was purely because I was in love the beatnik ideal, with locking myself in a room and drinking myself to death for the craft. After a short while, I realized that no matter how much booze I consumed, and how much I starved myself, unless I had something to say, I probably wasn't going to get very far. Thus, I switched.
Come on now, everyone has something to say. I know that might sound a little naive but it's a truth I hold to firmly. Everyone's had something in their life that's worth talking about. Even having nothing happen is worth talking about. The more stories and opinions that are put out there, the more equipped we are at understanding life.
That's funny, my second of three majors was photojournalism, much for the same reason. I loved the idea of being a photojournalist, but I severely lacked the "chops".
As for the post, there is something to say for a process that is yours and yours alone. I pitched in high-school baseball and I had the same process at the mound for each person at bat. This process put me at ease and allowed me to get in to a "zen" like mode. -Though I'd have looked at you sideways back then if you suggested I did anything "zen".
I have had similar routines for other athletic endeavors, but I've never incorporated ritual or routine in to a creative process. It's different every time. I don't need my special "pick" to play the guitar etc, I just play the thing.
Let's not forget Keouac was jacked up on amphetamines the whole time he wrote On the Road, which might also have effected his "feverish" or erratic behavior and may have been a factor in his scrolling habit. I think it makes a lot more sense that he did that, and found the process of adding a new page "stunting", when you have that context.