Yearly writing ritual

Perhaps ritual is too strong of a word, 

but I think most writers have things they do repeatedly.

Claudia Mills says she outlines and freewrites in a certain way while sipping cocoa. She also gives every chapter book about 10 chapters. 

Jacqueline Woodson says she reads poetry extensively before drafting picture books.

I have a yearly ritual. I revisit three writing books each summer. 

1. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. I own the print version, but I love borrowing the audio version from my public library. This version is important to me because it is 50 year -old Natalie reading and commentating the work of 30 something year-old Natalie. 


2. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. Natalie (Yes, I feel such a connection to her we are like old pals.) introduced me to this book. I blogged about writing marathons and I attributed them to Natalie, but Natalie actually talks about them in relation to how Hemingway talked about writing in this book. The thing I need repeatedly from this book is his dedication to write often.


3. Writing Without Teachers by Peter Elbow. Elbow gave me method to my madness, my journals. I get information about how to freewrite and what to do with it once I’m done. Elbow reminds me to search through my writing for golden nuggets, those “true lines,” to paraphrase Hemingway. 

Have you read these books? Do you have books that you revisit year after year?