Routines and rituals

I can't remember how many years ago it was that the tradition started. But Christmas hasn't begun for me until I hear Messiah sung somewhere locally - then you can legitimately bring out the mince pies, "deck the halls" etc. and wish people a Merry Christmas. Yesterday evening we went to hear the Three Castles Baroque in St. Mary's Priory Church in Monmouth with four superb soloists and first class instrumentalists - a really lovely evening. Now I feel galvanized into preparing for the coming festivities!

Near Goytre Wharf

But it's prompted me to think about the rituals and routines that we as writers often adopt, the little things we "have" to do to get ourselves going, to focus on the job in hand. I don't think we're obsessional, but I know so many people for whom the same pen, the right chair or the order in which they approach a task makes the difference between achieving a writing objective or not. For me an essential at the planning stage of a new project is a long walk; last Sunday it was along the Monmouth and Brecon Canal as I tried to get to grips with a plethora of ideas that had been forming for some time but refusing to coalesce into some sort of coherent whole. Another definite is getting something mapped out on paper in long hand (be it a long book or a short poem) before I start; the laptop is redundant until I can literally see the shape of what I'm doing.

The evening also started me off thinking about how large Christmas features in so many books and stories - usually, though not always, highlighting the negative! The enforced jollity, the high expectations of family get-togethers that crash to the ground on the first evening - we've all had them; the alcohol-fuelled outbursts, the stifling cocooning from well-meaning parents, the intrusive questioning about a life thankfully being lived out miles away ....  No wonder writers capitalize on the season for dramatic effect in their work. There are, of course, happier accounts; I was rereading A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas recently (it so reminds me of some of my own childhood experiences there) and I love Laurie Lee's tales of carol singing and family Christmases in Cider With Rosie. Let's hope that for all of us this year there are more pluses than minuses in whatever the season finds us doing!