Tag Archives: Routine

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee…or Tea: Exploring Writers’ Obsessions

Posted by Cortney Linnecke, GD Fiction Reader for 3.2

What is it about coffee and tea that so tickles writers’ fancies? Is it the sharp, earthy smell of freshly roasted beans? Is it the almost poetic way steam tendrils roll off a hot cup of tea like dragon’s breath? Or perhaps it’s the way baristas etch cliché but secretly satisfying designs into marbled latte foam?

No matter the reason, it can’t be argued that writers and hot beverages go together like Shakespeare and iambic pentameter. It’s a fact, as basic and fundamental as the knowledge that Dr. Seuss enjoyed a good rhyme or the consensus that Mark Twain rocked a mean mustache. If you need proof, just look at the world around you: there’s the popularization of mom-and-pop coffee shops, the increasing preference for foreign coffees and specialty teas, and the creeping and steadily escalating price of coffee (which hit an all-time high in late 2014). And let’s not forget the gargantuan size of the menu at Starbucks, which itself is a multi-billion dollar industry funded almost entirely by sleep-deprived artists, hipsters with drink orders the length of small novels, and of course, the occasional, bumbling tourist just looking for free wifi. Continue reading

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Finding the Time: Making (and Sticking to) a Writing Schedule

Posted by Ethan Keeley, GD Fiction Editor for 3.2

It often seems that our lives are endless collections of to-do lists and deadlines. Whether we’re in school or at work there are always things that must be done and seldom enough hours in a day to do them all. Relaxation is that rare oasis that soon dries up as a new day begins and the new to-dos congregate.Writer's Clock

While it would be nice to live in a world where all hours of the day were free for us to ruminate and type away with peace of mind, this is mere fantasy. Indeed, writing must take place amidst all the other duties of life, which are always trying to take precedence over it (see: classes, work, homework, social obligations, chores, sleep, basic hygiene, etc.). But if we’re serious about our writing we need to make it just as much a priority as all those other facets of life. We can’t just tell ourselves, “I’ll write when I have time,” because we’ll always spend that time in other ways, especially in ways that require less mental effort. Relaxation is so infrequent for most of us that we immediately go for that option when all other obligations are momentarily taken care of. Continue reading

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