On making yourself write.

Today's question is about writing.

On Sunday, I wanted to start writing this story I'd been thinking about for a while. I had talked it over with kestrelsan, planned it all out, made myself an iTunes playlist of suitable mood music. But still, in order to actually write, I had to:

• caffeinate
• drink two shots of Bushmills
• turn off all apps except BBEdit and iTunes, including the Finder
• remove Roy from my desktop and replace him with a plain blue background
• promise myself I could take a break after 1000 words
• invoke my muse (Eris, Goddess of Discord)

Even so, I was still finding ways to distract myself. "Oh, the spout on my hand cream dispenser is clogged. I must fix that right away."

I don't always have to go to such extremes before I can make myself write, but I do have to remove distractions.

What conditions do you need in order to write? What do you do to stay in that space? Or can you write anytime, anywhere?

And why do we put ourselves through this for a fucking hobby when we could just go watch TV instead?