*to access the actual Substack Unschool site instead of reading this as an email, CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE AND IT WILL TAKE YOU THERE. For those of you who are new here, this first-of-the-month newsletter is a free-for-all, a collage. It includes a prompt (followed by a “thread” to post your work in response to the prompt and/or to check out what others have contributed), as well as a poll of sorts, a response to last month’s poll, and much more. Usually some craft piece, this month included in the prompt.
As to the poll, I said never, because, beyond getting my tea made, there isn't anything that feels like a ritual. I sit in different places, I sometimes I listen to music, sometimes not, I write at different times during the day, sometimes I do timed sprints, most of the time I don't. Not sure what this means. Although I do know that no one has every accused me of being compulsive, although I also don't feel like I am a very spontaneous person either, in that my days, if looked at from a distance, don't vary much, as anyone who reads my posts will no doubt attest to (smile.)
Yes, I loved Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr! It's a complete departure from All the Light We Cannot See except for his amazing writing talent and skill with words, though.
I don't have the discipline for rituals, apparently, much as I've tried to cultivate them over the years, so I had to answer "Never" in the poll, which sounds so assertive, when I really was answering wistfully. Morning coffee is more of an addiction than a ritual for me, so I can't count that, although I do favor certain mugs over others.
I am quite late writing here, but I just wanted to say: it makes me most happy to imagine someone attacking an intruder with a giant book about poetry! I mean, not that having an intruder is a happy event in an of itself, but if you HAD to attack an intruder, it makes me happy to imagine someone doing so with that poetry book, instead of, say, a large spatula or a throw cushion or something like that.
I had to say 'never' as well. I don't even drink tea/coffee while writing as I have that for my break. Sort of my carrot. "Finish this chapter and you can have a cup of Earl Grey tea ." Maybe I need a ritual.
As to the poll, I said never, because, beyond getting my tea made, there isn't anything that feels like a ritual. I sit in different places, I sometimes I listen to music, sometimes not, I write at different times during the day, sometimes I do timed sprints, most of the time I don't. Not sure what this means. Although I do know that no one has every accused me of being compulsive, although I also don't feel like I am a very spontaneous person either, in that my days, if looked at from a distance, don't vary much, as anyone who reads my posts will no doubt attest to (smile.)
Yes, I loved Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr! It's a complete departure from All the Light We Cannot See except for his amazing writing talent and skill with words, though.
I don't have the discipline for rituals, apparently, much as I've tried to cultivate them over the years, so I had to answer "Never" in the poll, which sounds so assertive, when I really was answering wistfully. Morning coffee is more of an addiction than a ritual for me, so I can't count that, although I do favor certain mugs over others.
I am quite late writing here, but I just wanted to say: it makes me most happy to imagine someone attacking an intruder with a giant book about poetry! I mean, not that having an intruder is a happy event in an of itself, but if you HAD to attack an intruder, it makes me happy to imagine someone doing so with that poetry book, instead of, say, a large spatula or a throw cushion or something like that.
I had to say 'never' as well. I don't even drink tea/coffee while writing as I have that for my break. Sort of my carrot. "Finish this chapter and you can have a cup of Earl Grey tea ." Maybe I need a ritual.