All About Rituals by Joanne Guidoccio

Rituals are about creating space in time, in our surroundings, and in our own minds. They give us a sense of predictability while still leaving room for creativity and flexibility. Something I already understood during my teaching career, where routine was the backbone of every successful day. When I began my second act as a writer, I leaned on that knowledge and shaped it into something new. 

I crafted a morning ritual of my own. Nothing too dramatic, just a simple structure that supported my daily work.

While having a leisurely breakfast (one of my retirement perks), I tried not to linger over that second cup of coffee. If I wanted that extra cup, I allowed myself to enjoy it while checking email or browsing social media. By nine-thirty, I was at my desk. My goal was 1,000 words a day (1,667 during NaNoWriMo). Afterward, I was free to meet friends for lunch, go to my yoga class, run an afternoon errand, work on my scrapbooks, or simply enjoy the luxury of unstructured time.

But now, seventeen years into retirement, I feel a subtle restlessness. The old ritual no longer fits as neatly as it once did. Part of me craves a change, something new to match who I have become and lay the foundation for a future incarnation. 

I decided to research the writing rituals of famous authors to see what wisdom I might borrow for my own practice. What I discovered was a mix of discipline, unusual personal habits, and eccentricity.

Believing that consistency fuels productivity, many authors follow strict schedules but with their own personal twists. Stephen King writes every single day, holidays included, settling in between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. and aiming for six pages. John Grisham prefers a quota of one page per day, but insists that it be written in the same place and at the same time to maintain momentum. J. K. Rowling starts early as well, often retreating to a writing room—sometimes in her garden—to create a boundary between her creative space and the rest of her life.

And then there are the unusual and bizarre rituals that made me chuckle:

• Maya Angelou woke at 5:30 a.m., gathered her legal pads, a bottle of sherry, playing cards, a Bible, and Roget’s Thesaurus, and checked into a hotel room stripped of all distractions. She wrote twelve pages before heading home to edit in the evening.
• Honoré de Balzac consumed more than fifty cups of coffee a day—fuel for his intense all-night writing marathons.
• Alexandre Dumas color-coded his paper: blue for novels, yellow for poetry, and rose for nonfiction. Only when everything matched his system perfectly did he begin to write.
• Victor Hugo had his servant hide all his clothes so he couldn’t leave the house. Wrapped in a large gray shawl, he wrote until he had met his quota. Only then were his clothes returned.
• Ernest Hemingway sharpened dozens of pencils before he began writing at dawn, stopping only when he knew exactly what would happen next in the story.
• And then there’s John Donne, who liked to lie in an open coffin before picking up his pen. I’m still pondering that one.

These rituals reveal how each author carved out a path to creativity, often using the ritual itself as a bridge between daily life and the imaginative world on the page. 

As I contemplate my own new ritual, I feel several possibilities percolating. I’m aiming for a January 2026 launch—enough time to refine something that feels both grounding and energizing. If nothing else, my research has shown me that there’s no single “right” way to begin writing. 

Any other unusual rituals out there? Please share in the comments.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joanne Guidoccio is the author of the Gilda Greco Mystery Series. A member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Joanne also writes paranormal romances and inspirational literature from her home base of Guelph, Ontario. Visit Joanne at https://www.joanneguidoccio.com and on X/Twitter: @joanneguidoccio.

Joanne’s New Release – Hippie Mermaid

From sea to shore, betrayal follows her wherever she goes.

On Christmas Eve, psychic Kendra Adams reveals the secret she’s hidden for decades—she was once Rosina, a mermaid torn between sea and shore. Betrayed in her ocean kingdom and desperate to escape banishment, she persuades a politician to smuggle her into the human world. But freedom on land comes at a cost, as she soon finds herself ensnared in another web, this one spun by the politician’s power-hungry sister.

https://www.amazon.com/Hippie-Mermaid-Joanne-Guidoccio-ebook/dp/B0FVHQ2T3N 

https://www.amazon.ca/Hippie-Mermaid-Joanne-Guidoccio-ebook/dp/B0FVHQ2T3N