Writing Omens

I can't speak for everyone, but in my experience, writers are a superstitious, anxious lot. There's no guaranteed way to know which day will be a good writing day or a bad writing day, which is why the best practice is to write as frequently as possible and hope the average tips in your favor. But there are some tried and true writer-ly omens that you can depend on, and I've collected a few here. Like the soothsayers of old, let's crack the code of the universe together.

Rainy Weekend: A powerful omen for a very good writing day. It's as though the universe is reaching out to tell you that the outdoors are closed, thank you very much. Stay cozy and write things.

Frustrating Email Marked "High Importance": A sure sign that your story will take a sudden lurch towards violence or darkness. It's nearly impossible to avoid. A blood-boiling email is rumored to be the cause of the Red Wedding in A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. Write with care on such inauspicious days.

Thirty-Minute-Long Shower: An omen of revelation. On such a day an unknown plot hole or error will be revealed to you and (miraculously!) resolved.

That Thing Where You Wake Up Once and Look at the Time and You've got Hours Left to Sleep, then You Immediately Do It Again and You Have to Be Out of Bed in 30 Seconds: The Darkest of Harbingers. No writing can possibly be done on such a day, and you would be a fool to try.

You Are Introduced to a Cool Pet: A cool pet will appear somewhere in your Work in Progress, no matter what it was originally about. Who are you to deny the inner-workings of the creative universe?

I hope these signs will prove helpful in your future writings, and remember: the writing process may be an ineffable mystery, but a word count's a word count so be on the lookout for all the good omens you can find.