Cocoa Berry, Armani #6 and Annie

In the last few days I realized I have one additional writing ritual that I haven't been very aware of.

If I'm home, especially if I'm by myself, before I sit down to a writing session I put on fresh lipstick and sometimes eye liner. I know that this can be explained away by saying that I think of writing as equivalent to a job, etc. etc. etc. But that's not it. I don't put on the neutral, same-color-as-my-lips shades that I would wear to go to court or a bar dinner or the well-sharpened espresso eye pencil that just makes my eyelashes look a bit more sure of themselves. No -- I put on strong, dark red lipsticks -- the colors you would find in film noir classics, the ones that leave weird, unappealing stains on coffee cups, the ones that make me look a little too old, that make the lines around my mouth a little too prominent. Why do I own so many of these colors? I can't blame over-active salespeople because I really do like the lipsticks, I am just too chicken to wear them most of the time. And I wear dark, thick eyeliner -- sometimes even the liquid gel kind that requires a VERY steady hand, trying to look like an Italian movie star circa 1962.

I think I'm putting on my "writer gal" persona when I do this. I remember the passage in Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" when she described putting on a perky skirt suit to go visit her editor in New York early in her career, when she was astounded to find that they wouldn't spend the day sitting by elbow to elbow figuring out how to make her book perfect. I'm not prepared to put on special clothes these days -- I spent enough years in law firms writing briefs while wearing a full-on suit and high heels. I know I can write in those circumstances but I also know that the restrictive clothing does not necessarily improve my output.

Now I'm comfortable with just a little exterior touch-up to be ready to do my work. I do this if I'm in black pants and a cashmere sweater (as dressed up as I get these days) or in yoga clothes (put on in the morning to assure that I will actually go to class in the afternoon); if I'm sitting down for ten minutes or for the whole day. Just another quirky thing to (hopefully) help the process move forward a few more inches.