Writing Rituals
 
 
 

What can we learn from the daily rituals of famous writers, and how can “subtle maneuvers” in our writing habits help us “wriggle through” (in the words of Franz Kafka) to a more productive writing life of our own?

For this WriteSPACE Special Event in May 2025, I invited Mason Currey, the author of two books on the daily rituals of famous writers and artists, to tell us about his experiences, both as an expert on other people’s writing routines and as the architect of his own. Mason publishes the fabulous Substack newsletter Subtle Maneuvers and facilitates a weekday “Worm Zoom” for anyone craving a daily dose of accountability and camaraderie in support of their creative work.

In the first hour of this free event, Mason and I discussed examples of creative rituals employed by well-known writers — including Mason himself! — and explored the difference between rituals and routines. The second hour, for members of our paid writing communities, featured a hands-on workshop based on Mason’s “Worm School,” a collection of small but significant strategies to help you move forward with your writing even in the face of resistance. 

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of the live event.

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Mason Currey’s books are a compendium of 300 mini-biographies that read like portraits of creative weirdness. From Beethoven counting exactly 60 coffee beans for his morning brew to Tchaikovsky walking for precisely two hours a day to ward off bad luck, his book Daily Rituals is less a how-to manual and more a testament to the glorious chaos of the creative process.

You might pick up Mason’s books hoping to uncover the secret formula to creativity. Sadly, Mason says there isn't one. Each writer's ideal schedule is a delicate cocktail of personal quirks, energy cycles, and often, pure necessity. (And your cocktail might even include childcare, a day job, and/or a dog that needs walking). But one trend does emerge from Mason’s narratives: many creatives find they do their best work at a particular time of day, so that’s definitely a habit worth experimenting with.

A question that hovers over Mason’s vignettes: how could any of these people afford to be artists? The answers range from menial jobs to grand inheritances, dubious side hustles, and the occasional theft (perhaps not literally, but some schemes might raise eyebrows). This messy financial backdrop is the subject of Mason’s next book, Making Art and Making a Living, forthcoming in 2026.

It was deeply affirming to hear that even some of the greatest writers struggled to get their work done. Writing is hard! And it should be hard. If it feels too easy, Mason warned, you might not be doing your best work. (Cue a collective sigh of relief from everyone who's ever stared into the void of an empty Word doc. Side note: if that’s you right now, you may appreciate Inger Mewburn’s post ‘The Valley of Shit’ from her Thesis Whisperer blog).

Mason’s philosophy of "wriggling through" stems from a Kafka quote: "Time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy... one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers." It’s this very spirit that fuels his excellent newsletter and his Worm School, an offering for paid subscribers. When facing creative paralysis, Mason doesn’t prescribe vague mantras such as "Trust the process." He prefers wildly specific, delightfully zany hacks, such as these gems offered courtesy of an ADHD coach crowdsourcing on social media:

  • Make things messier so you have to tidy them up (which could apply to your kitchenor your intro paragraph).

  • Create an alter-ego who always gets things done.

  • Tell your family you finished a task... and then race to actually finish it before they get home.

Helen and Mason also discussed where the line lies between routines (often we see this as the ideal version of our day) and rituals (small, meaningful habits that actually happen). The psychology research backs up the need for rituals: sensory cues and consistent behaviors can nudge your brain into productivity mode.

Habits work when you make them for yourself. That said, a route that works for one book may not work for another. Mason told us that during an interview, novelist Nicholson Baker confessed that he invented a new ritual for every book—including recording pretend lectures on camera and transcribing them in order to find the character’s voice. As Mason put it: "It’s about sticking to things, and also knowing when not to stick to things."

The second hour of the event was a hands-on workshop run by Helen and Mason, which included fun prompts such as:

  1. Identify your creative objective.

  2. Think of the most obvious/logical/straightforward ways to accomplish that objective.

  3. Now you’re not allowed to do those ways. Brainstorm as many other ways as possible.

Some of the standout responses:

  • Barricade yourself in a hotel room.

  • Set an alarm every two hours, day and night. Stay up until the draft is done or delirium sets in.

  • Get a burner laptop with no distractions.

  • Plagiarise. (Just kidding!)

  • Don’t clean your house, exercise, or do any of the other tasks you need to do, just finish the chapter.

  • Don’t do the research. Just cut the section that needs it.

  • Hire a butler to smack you with a spoon every time you procrastinate.

Everyone left the session laughing, energised, and oddly inspired. If Kafka could wriggle through the horror of his office job, surely we can wriggle through our inboxes, frustration, and existential writing dread toward a more satisfying writing practice?

A warm thank you to Helen and Mason for their insights, and to all the writers who joined us.

Now go forth. Be routine-ish. Ritual-adjacent. Wriggle with flair!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the full recording of the two-hour Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.


 
May 2025Helen Sword
Writing with Confidence
 
 
 

How do you develop the confidence to navigate life’s transitions and take on new personal and professional challenges – such as, for example, the challenge of writing and publishing a book when you’ve never done so before? 

For inspiration and answers, I asked Lois van Waardenberg, a self-described “cross-disciplinary thinker, empathetic leader, coach, author, and human being who believes in the power of personal evolution.” In the space of just a few short months last year, Lois conceived of, researched, outlined, wrote, revised, and published Confidence Constellations: Insights and Action for Changing Humans, which then went on to win the 2024 Firebird Book Award in the Personal Growth category — an inspiring example of confidence and courage rewarded. 

In the first hour of this WriteSPACE Special Event, we discussed how Lois empowered herself to write her book; in the second hour, we conducted a hands-on writing workshop based on Lois’ five “Confidence Constellations,” which spell out the acronym MAJIC.

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of the live event.

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This two-hour live session was an invitation to embrace confidence, courage, creativity, and the challenges that come with stepping into new arenas. Helen and Lois were inspiring us to illuminate a path toward writing — and living — with greater self-trust.

Lois’ story is extraordinary: In under 6 months, she wrote her book Confidence Constellations, a project that not only culminated in a published book but also won a 2024 Firebird Book Award. Yet, as Lois shared, her journey wasn’t fueled by sudden bursts of bravery or a linear roadmap. Rather, it was a layered, iterative process building on her lifelong work of navigating transitions, overcoming personal and physical challenges, and guiding others through change.

Helen and Lois’s conversation ranged widely but always circled back to one central truth: confidence is not a fixed trait but a practice. Lois encouraged us to rethink the very idea of confidence, challenging the ways it is often narrowly defined. She illuminated several important topics: the gender confidence gap (check out The Confidence Code by Claire Shipman & Katty Kayand), internal versus external validation, and the role of visualization as a neural "shortcut" for building new patterns of action.

Another key theme was the power of feedback — not as a threat to the ego but as a gift that fosters growth. Lois described how, at the beginning of her writing process, she sent her very raw manuscript to several people to get feedback — the thought of which would make most writers squirm (myself included)! But Lois reminded us that risk is essential and truly confident people are often those most willing to learn, unlearn, and evolve. “To ask someone to put their eyes on your work is such a hard thing to do. But feedback is essential—A single tiny concept really really changed the book for the better! The smallest things can have the most incredible impact, like colour seeping through.”

She also introduced us to her beautiful MAJIC framework, which consists of five Constellations, each containing a number of separate Stars (inspirational anecdotes, quotes, and actions):

  • MYSELF: The foundation. Confidence begins with understanding and trusting oneself.

  • ACTIVATION: The art of taking baby steps, performing small actions that rewire your brain and gradually expand your capabilities.

  • JOURNEY: Recognizing that growth is neither linear nor predictable — we travel in loops, revisiting lessons and weaving new meanings along the way.

  • ILLUMINATIONS: Embracing paradox and reclaiming misunderstood ideas to forge your own philosophical path.

  • COMMUNITY: Remembering that confidence is relational; the act of engaging with diverse perspectives, even (and especially) when they challenge us, can strengthen our inner compass. As Lois so wisely put it: "We would have little use for confidence if we lived in a world on our own."

In the second hour, Lois guided participants through a hands-on writing workshop inspired by her MAJIC framework. One of the exercises included a visualization challenge, which I encourage you to try for yourself!

Writing prompt: Bring all of your senses into a visualization of one of the following: (1) a reader (either a real person or a made up persona) engaging with your finished or draft text; (2) yourself engaging in a part of the writing process that you struggle with.

A warm thank you to Helen and Lois for this inspiration, and to all the writers who joined us. For more wisdom from Helen and to hear about upcoming WriteSPACE events, stay connected with us — and let’s keep writing with confidence!

See you at the next event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the full recording of the two-hour Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.


 
April 2025Helen Sword
Expand Your Writing BASE
 
 
 

Are you a Lone Wolf? A Seabird? A Bullet Train?

Of all the free writing resources I’ve created over the years, the Writing BASE is my favorite. It’s colorful, interactive, and illuminating — and, best of all, it provides you with a clear action plan for broadening and strengthening your BASE, the foundation on which your writing practice is built.

My research suggests that more than one quarter of academic and professional writers worldwide self-diagnose as the Pebble, a profile associated with low self-confidence in four key dimensions of writing: Behavioral, Artisanal, Social, and Emotional. But if the Pebble profile describes you, take heart! While you may feel small and unpolished in your writing practice right now, you have the potential to grow into a cornerstone of strength, broadening and deepening your BASE until you achieve the coveted profile known as the Rock.

To try out this whizzy free tool for yourself:

  1. Go to the Writing BASE website and drag the colored dots to find the four statements that best describe your behavioral, artisanal, social, and emotional habits:
    B) How productively do you write?
    A) How skillfully do you write?
    S) To what degree are other people a part of your writing practice?
    E) How do you feel about your writing?

  2. Next, click the pink “See My Profile” button to reveal your individual profile and diagnosis. (You may wish to save a screenshot as a reference, so you can try the tool again a few months from now and see how your BASE has grown).

  3. For a more detailed analysis and a custom blueprint for broadening your BASE, click “Get Action Plan” and follow the link to your WriteSPACE or WS Studio membership area. (If you’re not a WriteSPACE member, use your profile name as a discount code to try free for 30 days, then log into your membership area, navigate to the BASE page, and click on your profile name).

You can learn more about the origins, functions, and applications of the Writing BASE by downloading this research article and exploring the About and Profiles pages on the website.

Better yet, why not invite me to run an online or onsite writing workshop on “Productivity without Pressure” for the writers in your organization? I’d love to see you there!

Write more, right now! For exclusive access to live workshops, craft-focused coaching, and premium writing and editing tools, join me and writers from 30+ countries in the WriteSPACE, a vibrant international writing community and resource treasury.