Do You Need a Date Night?

Every relationship benefits from a little bit of romance now and then. This includes your relationship with your writing. What is romance but a bit of innovative quality time and attention?

For some people romance might look like wining and dining, or bubble baths, or sunset strolls, but whatever the outer appearance, the core experience involves spending time with someone (or something) you love.

What would a date night with your writing look like?

I once facilitated an evening of writing in art gallery called Eat, Drink, Write. Wine and appies sat on u-shape arranged tables surrounded by framed paintings while we scribbled away in our notebooks. 

In Paris one year, I wrote in my journal atop the Eiffel Tower at night, where every hour on the hour the tower lights up with twinkling lights that can be seen across the city. 

Nearly two decades ago, at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, I attended a late night breakout writing event, where I happened to meet one of my long running writing group buddies. 

Looking back, these could be considered date nights with my writing, yet they weren't planned that way. But what if they had been? Or what if I planned some new dates now?

It's true that many writers get their best writing done early in the day, usually in the mornings, when they're fresh, and perhaps fuelled by coffee.

Others are night owls who rev up later and take inspiration from darkness and stillness. We all have our habits and proclivities, but we're still capable of stepping out of our routines.

Because dates are not routines. They are special events we spruce up for and anticipate, nervously or excitedly. When's the last time you dressed up for writing? When's the last time you aimed to impress it rather than the other way around? To keep any relationship healthy we have to inject a bit of surprise and spontaneity to keep from falling into a rut.

I certainly won't deny that writing generally, as a practice, thrives on routine (I've written about that before and I'm sure I will again), but an occasional jolt of romance can work wonders for reigniting a spark of joy, surprise, originality, and inspiration--that je ne sais quoi that made you fall in love in the first place. So try taking your writing out on a date. You just might get lucky.

Write for the romance of it.