Hello, my name is Nerissa! Welcome to the first day of my writing experiment. Writing is something that I do as a hobby and like most of my hobbies, it gets put aside for whatever else I have going in my life. I realized that if I want to maintain my hobby it would help to have a routine, but I’m not sure what routine would work for me. I have decided to find my own routine by testing out the routines of other writers. Often good advice for a hobby like this can best be derived from experiencing the best routine.
Since I’ve been reading Joan Didion for some time now, I thought I would start with her. It was also an easy choice because I would be fitting her writing routine into my schedule. As a full-time student with two jobs I don’t have a lot of time on my hands, but the time that I do have I want to spend on creative endeavors. I am following her routine for seven days and writing a story based on a prompt sent to me by a friend:
On earth a man puts his hand in his hat; in the rabbit realm the hand appears and the rabbit council must choose a sacrfice
I’m not sure where he found the prompt, but I’m going to be working on it. In terms of the results, I am not sure how I would finish this within the time frame or have something that I’m proud of. If I do finish and the outcome isn’t good, I will leave it as an experience learned. If I don’t finish it, I might continue with the next routine.
The routine that I’m following is from this article which has referenced other interviews Didion has done. She will work on a piece, maybe get a few sentences or a paragraph down, and take an hour before dinner to sort through what she did. The articles are here if you would like to take a look: On the Daily rituals of Joan Didion, Patti Smith, and More by Mason Currey and The Daily Routines of Great Writers by Maria Popova
In the Netflix special: Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, Didion said she started her day will a coke so that is also what I did. Then I headed to the park to think about the piece. I was able to outline what I wanted. I did not expect this to take very long because I’m only just beginning and not really writing yet. Then I went to work.
I’m probably on more of a time crunch with this project than Joan Didion on her novels. I want to document my progress on this blog as well as in video format (the video will come out once after the seven days). That’s why after getting off work at 10 p.m. I showered and got to work again, sorting through my little notes for about half an hour instead of Didion’s one hour and typing this up at nearly 2 a.m. My sleep cycle is a mess regardless, but I do feel like I made progress. I’m expecting these sorting periods will get longer as I actually get to writing. Tomorrow I’ll be doing research on the origins of the hat trick, rabbits, and creating characters. If I’m really lucky maybe I can get something drafted before I see Batman in the evening.