What do you do when you write?

Light incense candles? Listen to music? Eat?
I know that I listen to some music, eat stale cookies and drink flat soda.
That's the only way to go.
But I understand if you don't like distractions when you write, some people turn off their internet so as not to get distracted. I don't, but it sounds like a technique.

Comments

[AbsoluteAnonymous]

I put on headphones, even if I have no music. In fact, I tend to PREFER no music. I always make sure to have food and drink on hand so that I won't have to get up too often - usually milk and chips - and refuse to talk to anyone. Since I type on the computer, I usually have 2 or 3 tabs open on the side for random websites, just to kill time if I'm not feeling inspired. I usually write at a feverish pace for about an hour, then randomly surf the net and eat for another hour. I can do this for an entire day. Plus I usually keep the lights low and wrap myself in a blanket. I come out at the end of it in a daze.

[EpicGuy]

28035
That's mostly what I do as well, but sometimes I like listening to music while I'm writing. It's mostly music that inspires me to write, actually, so whenever I get an idea from some song lyrics or a tempo or anything I usually put that song on repeat until I finish the story. By the time its done I'm singing that song through my house and whispering it in my sleep. A few people have called it "creepy."

[Casper B. Wordsmith]

I tend to try and relax at the end of a day with the objective of writing a new chapter or the like. Occasionally music will be playing but I'm okay if it isn't. The internet will be open if I get stuck and wish to let everything simmer for a spell.

One of my general desires is to have a beer or two whilst writing. I know it's probably frowned upon or the likes but I tend to find it helps the language flow a little better and aids those more difficult parts of chapters link up with others and find resolutions. I can write without but it tends to take me longer to chew everything over which irks me a little. Not to mention that I enjoy my writing more and feel more engaged if I'm relaxed to a greater extent - which alcohol provides quickly and (in the immediate term) painlessly.

[Tailslover13]

I usually listen to my music and watch TV at the same time, but then one or both usually end up distracting my overzealous mind and makes it hard for a genius like myself to focus on writing quality stuff. The reason for that is when I listen to music, I don't just "listen" to it. I always imagine that the ponies are singing it and doing something crazy, just like a music video. The Total Drama opening theme songs are replaced in my mind in pony-fied versions, and I listen to them all the time and imagine it actually happening to my liking. On TV, I usually watch Adult Swim or Sportscenter. But, ultimately, when it comes right down to it, I usually have to turn off both because I'm just too easily distracted. What can I say? I always have fun every single moment I'm alive! Sometimes, my kitty will lay on my lap, which will either help or hurt my concentration, not to mention make my legs cramp up. Also, since my computer is in my cat's room and I prefer to always be in the darkness (no, I don't have depression, so do NOT go there like all my mother's idiot friends), so the darkness usually makes me tired very easily. So...yeah, lots of distractions for me, which is why it takes a while for me to write things. I want to put out quality stuff, after all!

[10000 B_C]

28035 Now I feel inadequate. I can't stand to write for more than like an hour before I either get too distracted or mt eyes start hurting.
28467 I can just picture someone at their computer, mumbling incoherent words that could be a song, but everyone's too afraid to get close to check.
28483 Beer?

That's one option scratched off.
28519 And I always have fun picturing the opening theme from TMPI whenever I see tht line at the beginning of a chapter. The opening theme from the show, but with ponies!

[Casper B. Wordsmith]

28579
I enjoy a drink and I enjoy writing. It combines two things that I love and it works wonderfully well.

[10000 B_C]

28602 I'm not judging you. I just can't, physically.

[Casper B. Wordsmith]

28610
Ah, I see. My apologies.
And that is certainly unfortunate.

[Kintra]

*Clicks your profile, sees the question cant help but respond* I listen to music. And that's it. Normally I can sit, listen to some wub wub, and write out a few chapters if I want to spend that much time on it. Been difficult lately cuz my mind is in overdrive for some reason. But, you know how it is... I think.

[Donnys Boy]

Oh, this is an interesting question!

I usually listen to music. Often, I choose one specific song to listen to while writing a chapter of a story I'm working on or even for the entire story. I've been putting on Cheryl Cole's "Parachute" every time I work on "Seeking Beauty," for example, and years and years ago when I wrote a novel, I listened to Wings' Band on the Run album on repeat during the entire writing. My family (with whom I still lived at the time) were so, so sick of that album by the time I'd finished that novel, lemme tell you. I associate music and reading a lot, for whatever reasons, so I find it inspiring to match music with what I'm writing. It's probably why I also choose song quotes to start off so many of my stories. (That, and I'm pretentious.)

I also tend to start a writing session for a multi-chaptered work by rereading the last chapter--it helps refresh my memory as to recent plot developments and gets me back into the mode of writing I'm using for that story. Right now, I'm working on an epilogue for a story that's written in the present tense, and I absolutely HAVE to reread some earlier chapters or else I can't get back into writing present tense at ALL.

Oh, and Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew is essential to the writing process. *nod*