Romance Weekly Blog Hop - Quirky Superstitions

If you arrived here via Tracey Gee's blog, thank you kindly for hopping over to read my response to this week's blog hop question.

Collette Cameron, who is currently offering an anthology that is just in time for Valentine's Day, titled Gifts From the Heart, 

 wants to know - What quirky habits (superstitions, must haves, etc.) do we have while writing? 

If not being able to write anything at all without background music playing is considered to be quirky, then I'm guilty as charged.

Actually, that one probably falls under the must-have category.

Just as I am unable to fall asleep in a noisy environment or go potty in a public place, I am also unable to write without background music.

The vocal-less, melodic, and sometimes even hypnotic genres that include artists like Darshan Ambient, Lanterna, Ishq, and Lemongrass, to name a few.

Rarely have I ever caught myself delving into a WIP surrounded by dead air – which isn't, actually dead – since I can still hear the television blaring outside my writing den (my aging, deaf mother is a big Law & Order fan).

It has happened, though, that I sometimes find myself immersed in a scene without the aid of a preferred background sound. Once I catch it, I'll stop what I'm doing and click the MediaPlayer tab to get the groove thing going.

As for quirks or superstitions, I think my biggest issue with trying to write is to avoid all social media platforms during pre-set writing hours.

It is probably like that for a lot of us, though. We want to write, we know we have to write, and we must write if we're faced with a deadline, yet Facebook is calling, Twitter is luring us away via our phones, etc.

So, from a superstitious standpoint with a modern twist, we can agree that – like stepping on a crack that will break our mother's back – giving in to social media temptation will break our concentration faster than an unexpected phone call or the ringing of a doorbell.

Ixnay on the Facebook-tay!

So, perhaps a quirk would be the pre-set writing hours. 

When I hear that some of my fellow authors write first thing in the morning, I am both amazed and jealous. Such discipline is to be admired.

Not being a morning person, it takes hours to get me motivated to do just about anything. 

Now that I have an at-home freelance job, I get that out of the way first thing, but it is the equivalent of having to wake up, shower, dress, eat, get in the car, and drive to an office or wherever.

My internal alarm clock doesn't usually go off until about four o'clock in the afternoon. By then I'm through eating for the day, and I'm over all of the browsing, chatting, pinning, game-play, and in warmer weather walking, traveling, picture-taking, wanting to be outside, etc.

No more tempting distractions, in other words.

Around twilight is when things really start to pick up, and from about that time until 1 - 2 a.m., I'm bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and feverishly tapping away at the laptop keyboard.

Well, maybe not feverishly, or even every single night, but you get the idea.

Maybe that's just habit, though. I've been writing that way and during those hours since the 9th grade!

Thank you, Collette, for an enjoyable prompt this week. 

Now it's time to head on over and find out what Gemma Brocato has to say.

And, please be sure to click on the BOOKS tab while you're there.

Gemma's latest publication, Mission: Mistletoe, is available for purchase at Amazon, and at a great price, too.