This is just a little thought I've been playing with. I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to this theory, but hey, that's what a theory is, right?

I looked it up just to be sure. A theory is "a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained."

So, this "Coffee Mug Theory of Writing Process" is a theory because it's intended to explain something.

Whether it does explain anything remains to be seen.

The Coffee Mug Theory of Writing Process

Principles:

1. You need to drink coffee out of a container. You can't just drink coffee without drinking it out of something.

Containers dictate the shape and appearance of a liquid, and without them, it would be almost impossible to drink anything! Our writing practice also has containers that dictate its shape and feel in our lives, whether we're aware of this or not. Containers can be as concrete as the tools we use to write, the projects we've chosen to work on, or the habits we've created around our writing. Containers can also be as subtle as our beliefs about productivity, success, or what it means to be a real writer. Containers for our writing practice can sometimes seem either invisible or inevitable. They're not. We can make choices about them.

2. There is no one perfect coffee mug for everyone, but there may be objectively better and worse coffee mugs for specific situations.

Different people need different containers for their writing practice at different times in their lives. Your friend might rave about taking their iced coffee on the go in their Stanley Quencher, but if you love to linger over a piping hot coffee at your kitchen table, that one probably won't work for you. In the same way, we need to be careful about taking writing process advice from others whose situation and needs may be very different from our own, even if they are writers we respect! In choosing a coffee mug, as with choosing an approach to our writing, it's best to be guided by our specific needs and preferences.

3. It's okay to have a fun coffee mug!

Do you like coffee mugs with cartoons on them? Is there a particular shade of blue ceramic that you especially love to look at in the morning? Imagine if we only made decisions about our coffee mugs based on pure utilitarianism. We also don't need to let efficiency or productivity be the only guides in how we think about our approach to writing process. Let things be fun! Let things be frivolous! Let things be absurd!

4.It's normal to change things up!

I've used a variety of coffee mugs in my life, and I've definitely liked some better than others. A few, I've used for years on end, maybe even a decade. But I never imagined that just because I genuinely enjoyed a particular mug, that I was set for life and I'd never want or need another mug again. There is no one perfect writing process that will have you set for life once you discover it. There are seasons and phases, and sometimes the transition between them can be rough. It sucks when your favorite mug breaks, and it's the same when a nice container for your writing breaks and you have to go find a new one.

5. Let pleasure be your guide.

There are so many different coffee mugs in the world because different people enjoy different things. We enjoy the way the handle curves. We enjoy the color. We enjoy reading the message on it (or we enjoy the idea of others reading the message on it.) We enjoy it because our friend made it. We enjoy it because we just do. What would a container for your writing practice look like, if it were designed specifically around what you enjoy?

Well. I still don't know what I think. I told you this would be an experiment!