How to Live the Writer Aesthetic

Have you ever looked at someone’s Instagram and thought “I want to live in a world like that.” Well today’s your lucky day because I’m going to share some easy steps for how to live the writer’s aesthetic.

Take a look through and see just how easy it is to integrate dark academia into your lifestyle as you haunt your local streets and swish back cups of dark black coffee.

Step 1: Wake early with the morning fog

Rouse and wake just as the sun tips the horizon. Emily Bronte says that “if a days work is not done before 10am, it risks not being done at all” and you take this to heart. Push back the covers slowly and see the mist rolling in across the city. It’s cold, but perfect to start your writing for the day.

Step 2: Always have a hot drink nearby

Coffee, black tea, dandelion chicory or herbal. Whatever you wish, have a hot drink nearby — always. Take short sips as you skim through books, reread what you wrote the previous day, or take notes for your upcoming novella. The bitter taste stains your lips and you never would wish it any other way.

Step 3: Write frantically but be orderly in your life

Gustave Flaubert reminds us that we must “be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” Plan out your day and allocate time to each task you want to accomplish, then in those time blocks allow yourself to let go and be creative. You write and write until you forget what day it is or where you live. You let yourself go so completely that you have 2,000 words before lunch. But you remember Flaubert’s wise words so you always have your groceries done, your apartment tidy and your washing hung. So that when you sit down to work, it flows out of you without a second thought.

Step 4: Wander the streets for inspiration

Take time away from your creative hot mess and wander through the streets for inspiration. You feel the cold air on your cheeks, and the gentle pat of the afternoon rain. The sky may be gloomy but the trees are vibrant with orange leaves. You find inspiration in the most unlikely of places.

Step 5: Loiter in cafes

There’s just no replacement for sitting in the corner of a cafe and sipping on a hot chocolate. You bury yourself in your favourite classic novel and marvel at the use of language and character. There’s a time and a place for reading, and this definitely seems to be it.

Step 6: Talk with your writer friends

Only other writers understand the struggles and triumphs that come with writing. Talk about everything you’re scared to admit to yourself about the writing process. Writing has a shared language among writers, and you’ll be glad to have a friend to cheer you on.

Will you try out the writer’s aesthetic life? Let me know which of these tips really inspires you.