Weird Work Habits

You’d think that legendary authors like Capote, Eliot and Welty would’ve had very formal writing habits to produce that caliber work, but you’d be wrong. Today I stumbled upon this article, “Weird Writing Habits of Famous Authors”, which exposes the truth: some of the best known writers produced their work lying down, half in the bag or with a painted face. One even pinned her stories together like a patchwork quilt.  

It got me thinking about my own writing habits, which are pretty tame in comparison. Nonetheless, I have a few weird ones:

I like to write in my pajamas. (But who doesn’t?)

Before I sit down to write, I splash my face with cold water to make me more alert and soothe my eyeballs.

I write in my home office, which must be quiet as a tomb, with a faux fur blanket on my lap and fingertip-less gloves on my hands.

I always have a 16 oz. cup of Wawa’s french vanilla coffee with french vanilla creamer within arm’s reach.

I do my writing on one computer and my research on another because I have computer hypochondria (the fear of downloading something that will screw up my computer and cause me to lose my manuscript).

After I finish my coffee, I chew Orbit Bubblemint gum two pieces at a time.

When my writing session ends, I superstitiously save my work in at least 2 places.

What about you? Do you have any weird work habits?