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After sitting at my desk trying to force my (recently concussed) brain to come up with a blog topic I decided to just do it. Writing is not my first love and if I’m being honest, it doesn’t even make my top 10 list. The setting and my mood need to be ‘just right’ to spark inspiration.

When I was a grad student I found the perfect formula to will myself into endless hours of writing. My tried and true writing recipe includes:

• a good cry while blubbering about how much of a failure I am
• a glass of wine. My mantra was “write drunk and edit sober”
• my “thinking smell” billowing from my diffuser. I don’t actually know if there is scientific evidence to back my claim but I was willing to try anything to get myself through grad school. Like Pavlov’s dog, I have become conditioned to do my best writing when that scent is wafting through my office.
• catchy tunes. By this point, I’ve already gotten over the crying and moved on to dancing at my desk while having sparks of genius.

I am happy to report that I was able to write this post with only two of the four ingredients. I’ll let you guess which ones.