Today, as part of a five-day series, we present our findings, from the silly to the sublime: the routines and rituals—or lack of them—of ASF Winter ’09 contributors. . .
* Eugene Cross * Leigh Gallagher * Karen S. Ingram * Michael Noll * Laura C. J. Owen *
Michael Noll (“Bullheads,” Winter ’09) on ritual:
“When I had unlimited time, I wrote from eight in the morning until noon or one. After my wife and I had a baby, I snuck in an hour when the opportunity presented itself. But sometimes a day or two would pass between writing, and I’d waste time figuring out where I had left off and recapturing whatever rhythm had developed. So, now I wake at four thirty, tiptoe past the crib to make coffee, and write in the kitchen so my typing won’t wake the baby.
“Like most other writers, I suppose, I’ve found that I need to write every day, including weekends, for several hours at a time. I take Tim O’Brien’s advice and treat writing like any other job–get up, go to work. Yes, writing is romantic and mysterious, but mostly it’s about accumulating a large number of thoughtfully arranged words. The only way to do that is to sit down at the computer every day and not get up until I’ve accomplished something.
“Or until the baby wakes up.”
Michael Noll is the writer-in-residence at the Katherine Anne Porter House in Kyle, Texas. He graduated from the Texas State University MFA program in fiction and is an assistant editor at Narrative Magazine. His work is forthcoming in The Austin Anthology: Emerging Writers of Central Texas. He is currently at work on his first novel.
*If there’s an ASF (or other) author whose rituals you’d like to hear about, comment below. We’ll report back soon.
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