I bet you’re thinking this is about Celtic legend and myth? After all, I’m here because of my latest Scottish medieval romance, A Highlander’s Temptation (GCP, Oct. 2009. Anyone familiar with my books knows that I enjoy weaving enchantment into them. There’s even a meddlesome crone, Devorgilla, who is a recurring character and always has a spell or charm at the ready. She even has a little red fox named Somerled who assists her in all things magical.
Scotland, too, can be called enchanting. I’ll not argue that.
With its Hebridean setting,
A Highlander’s Temptation (GCP, Oct. 2009) has one of the most spectacular backdrops I’ve ever written. The hero’s windswept home, MacConacher’s Isle, is definitely an enchanted place.
So you aren’t far from the truth if you guessed that a guest blog titled “Enchanted Realms” would be about something mystical.
It is, actually.
Although, the enchanted realm I mean is a writer’s office. But that, too, isn’t quite the right description because not all of us write in a real, stone-and-mortar work environment. I do. And I love my office dearly. But some of us create in a corner of some other room, space constraints and personal circumstances depending. Some write on laptops while sitting on the sofa. Or in a garden or – gads! – ensconced in a crowded café. I even have a friend who used to slip away to her car on her lunch breaks, working there.
With so many books on the shelves – and more appearing every month – you can be guaranteed that there are writers writing somewhere, every day.
Here’s a look at my office.
And here’s a look at why I write all my books perched on the edge of my chair. Needless to say, my little dog shares my chair always. Sometimes, when he falls asleep, he nudges me until I really am sitting on only about an inch and half of space.
No matter. Dog lovers will understand why I don’t have the heart to disturb him. What counts is that this is my writing place. It’s impossible to work without one.
And wherever that somewhere might be, I think it’s a safe bet to say that to the individual writer, that somewhere is an enchanted place. It has to be. Because if it isn’t the writer won’t be able to slip away from the real world and disappear into the story.
Every writer needs an enchanted realm.
Wherever we craft our stories, we have to be able to walk through a magical door and immerse ourselves in the world of our work-in-progress. So I want to talk about how we get that door to glide open and then fall quietly shut behind us, locking us inside our special writing zone.
I do it with rituals.
One or two little things that help me banish everything but The Book from my mind. These signals alert my subconscious that I’ve stepped through the magical door and am now in my enchanted realm, ready to work.
Candles and scented oils (I love reed diffusers) are high on my list of writing rituals. As I do my best work after midnight, the candle glow adds much-appreciated atmosphere. The reed diffusers give off a subtle fragrance that makes my work area seem extra-special.
I also enjoy listening to music (no lyrics, please) to help set the mood. Classical music is my favorite choice, with Mendelssohn’s incredible overture, The Hebrides, having accompanied me through the writing of so many books. Celtic music (again, without words) is also inspiring. And I also love the evocative, transporting melodies of many New Age-y instrumentals.
The rest of the world needs to be absolutely quiet and still. I would call myself a mild-mannered person, but if the local landscape crews dare waltz by anywhere near my office windows when I’m trying to work, I have moments when I can easily imagine someone exploding into a mindless, red murderous haze of fury.
These leaf-blowing brigades can transform me into a fire-breathing she-dragon in quick time. Even my best, most soothing writerly rituals can’t compete with a leaf blower.
So when these fiends appear – which so often happens to be just then when I am busiest and really, really, really need to concentrate – I abandon my office and either take my dog for a walk or ride my bicycle.
Here’s a favorite bit of my dog-walking-and-cycle route.
Getting out and about banishes my leaf-blower-induced temper and also clears my mind. Some of my best writing ideas come to me when I am walking my dog or cycling. The physical exercise does me good, too. But that – writers and fitness - is a topic for a different blog.This one is about writers and the rituals we use to find our way into the writing zone.
One other thing I often do to jumpstart a work session is consult a sweet little tome called Juwelen der Weisheit. That’s german for “Jewels of Wisdom.” It’s a tiny book that fits easily into the palm of my hand. The book is filled with inspirational quotes and was a gift from a very dear friend who lives in Munich. I keep the book on my desk. Sometimes I’ll just hold it, close my eyes, and then open the book and read the saying that my ‘heart’ has chosen. It’s amazing how often the quote will be exactly what I needed to hear.
A while ago, I was feeling discouraged and opened the book to this quote: “If we think of failure, it will come to us. If we’re undecided, we’ll not move forward. We must simply choose our path and follow it.” That’s a rough translation from the German, but you can see how well the saying applied to a time when I was stumbling.
I don’t know if my German girlfriend cast a spell over this little tome or if the magic comes from the book or maybe even someplace deep inside myself. Whatever it is, I often find the exact motivation I need in the book’s pages.
If I don’t feel like working, I grab the book. Without fail, I open it to a saying that gets me going.
If something blindsides me and I pick up that book – lo! – I only have to peek inside to find just the words I needed to feel better again.
To me, this little book is magic. It’s definitely become one of my writing rituals.
You’ll see my characters using rituals of their own in
A Highlander’s Temptation . I don’t like to give spoilers, so I won’t mention them specifically. But you can bet that you’ll see Arabella MacKenzie, the heroine, trying out a special ritual or two. And you’ll definitely catch her hero, Darroc MacConacher, busy at a very poignant daily habit of his own.
Devorgilla, the recurring crone mentioned above, is always good for a ritual. As a spell-caster extraordinaire, she’s a real master at such things. She has her hands full in A Highlander’s Temptation (GCP, Oct. 2009), but she’s indomitable and never tires of working her special magic. You might even catch Arabella’s mother, Linnet, going about her own unique daily rituals when you accompany her into her beloved herbarium and see her at work there. That scene, which includes Arabella’s father, Duncan MacKenzie, hero of my first book, Devil In A Kilt (GCP, July 2001), was lots of fun to write and is also an example of how a few very simple things can help us start our days in a good way.
I don’t know about you, but I love anything that helps me keep life positive.
It’s so important for writers to protect our work.
I mean, of course, keeping our heads clear and untroubled and being able to find our way into the writing zone again and again and again until the deadline is met and the book is finished and on its way to our editors.
Writing rituals help us do that. I know my own work for me.
So what about you? Do you have any special tricks that help you ready yourself for your work day? If you do, I’d love to hear them.
If anyone knows of a ‘ritual’ powerful enough to block the noise of leaf blowers, you’re my hero. But somehow, I doubt even old Devorgilla could win against the noise caused by landscaping crews.
So forget that and just tell me: how do you get to your enchanted realm?
Meet the real Somerled (Devorgilla’s little red fox), read an excerpt, and see setting photos of A Highlander’s Temptation (GCP, Oct. 2009) at my website:
http://www.welfonder.com/ 
ith us on Friday and giving us a glimpse at her Celtic Witch Series! 
by Judi McCoy on October 6th! I reviewed the first book in 
