Frappuccino Caramel (For the Soul) at Starbucks
Do you Need Rituals for Writing?
Growing up, I enjoyed listening to my father’s conversations with friends as any other kid maybe. He had friends from all walks of life: businessmen, carpenters, farmers, poets, and writers.
Being so passionate about books (at a young age), observing the “writing” group was of the utmost interest to me. One of them was in his 50s and was the most interesting. With his long hair, he reminded me of René Descartes. Frequently, he would scratch his head and hold his pipe, coughing all the time. According to him, he couldn’t write a single word without drinking coffee, smoking, and being barefoot. That was my first introduction to so-called “ writing rituals”.
I used to imitate him by wearing my grandma’s wig and holding a pen between my fingers (as if it were a pipe) and holding a cup of water in my hand (instead of coffee) and scratching the wig and attempting to walk barefoot with a pen and pencil back and forth in the room. My parents used to laugh crazily.
Despite my hidden deep desire to be a writer, all the writers I knew were addicted to coffee. For me, joining the “ coffee club” was not an option.
With the coffee, my story was tragic. when I was six or seven, my mother told me that I would have a mustache like my father ( he has a mustache similar to Nietzsche’s) when I wanted to try his Turkish coffee. I did not want that mustache. For many years, because of that incident, I could not even smell the coffee (fortunately now I can).
For me, coffee seemed an original writing ritual. Writing rituals fascinated me for years and created a halo of magic around writers and indirectly stopped me from trying to step into the world of those who change the world with a pen and paper.
When I moved to the Netherlands, I didn’t have many friends, so I used to go to Starbucks at the train station. Although the options in a “coffee” shop are limited for non-coffee drinkers, the experience the coffee shop in a station offers is unique. At that station, I read and observed the rush of people. Stations are hubs of contradictory feelings: Happiness and sadness, greetings and goodbyes, smiles and tears. Everything is in one place.
One day, while reading a book about stepping out of my comfort zone, instead of ordering Earl Grey tea I ordered a Frappuccino caramel. The first lines of my first story were written in that Starbucks on that day. I had the same experience the next day. This was repeated for many months. Without noticing, I developed my writing ritual.
Starbucks, Frappuccino caramel…
Starbucks, Frappuccino caramel…
It is now possible for me to write at home, in the garden, on the plane, and at the airport, but when I write in a Starbucks with a Frappuccino caramel next to me, the quality is different, the experiment is different (and more delicious). Perhaps I was using the sweet excuse of the ritual of Frappuccino to justify my indulgence.
I concluded that the biggest secret behind the rituals of writing is that there is no secret at all. There seems a strong connection to a moment or a place where the Gods of inspiration were generous. The ritual comes from us basically to try to create similar conditions to repeat the same experience and the same beautiful results.
You do what suits you. Simply do what lets you feel more inspired or productive.
BTW I am writing this article in a lovely Starbucks at a train station and next to me is a tasty Frappuccino caramel…Frappuccino caramel…
Subhi Najar is an Alchemist of words, Little Prince, Public Speaker, storyteller, content Creator, and war survivor.
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