The Benefits of Ritual Sacrifice

--Adrienne Miller

I’m an egg breaker. 

I found out this out a couple years ago at a RWA meeting. Eric Maisel was giving a presentation, and he said something along the lines of, “Start every writing day with a ritual”. Ok. Fair enough. But then he broke out the big gun.

“Every morning break an egg.” 

That’s it. Break it. Open it up and let the insides pour out. 

People gasped. No, really. They did.

“Can you save it and use it later?” somebody asked.

The answer, “No.”

My mind spun. Of course, you couldn’t use it later. You’d already used it, given it up as a sacrifice. You can’t make a Denver omelet out of a freely given sacrifice. If that was your plan all along, then your heart wasn’t in the ritual. So why bother cracking them early?

I was thinking this was one of the most brilliant pieces of writing advice I’d ever heard. So, imagine my surprise when I turned to my friends and saw their horrified expressions. 

They explained their reticence. 

I can’t just waste eggs. 

I would feel guilty. 

The whole idea just creeps me out.

Valid reasons, all of them. But me, I couldn’t wait to crack open some eggs. 

The next morning I got up before my husband and my boys. I pulled back that hinged cardboard cover. I imagined what I wanted to write that day. And then I broke that bad boy open.

And it worked for me. I wrote like crazy cakes that day. I kept at it, and it kept working. 

Obviously, I’m a ritualistic person, and I get why the daily sacrifice works it’s magic on me. Sacrifice isn’t a good thing or a bad thing. It’s just another word for the price that has to be paid to receive what you want. Sacrifice isn’t selfish or selfless. It just is. 

There’s no guarantee it work, or, even more frightening, that what you think you want is what you really want. When I was younger, I sacrificed my energy, time and even money, trying to coax a little more attention out of boys that weren’t worth mine. Now days, I give those things to my family, and in return I get the opportunity to love an incomprehensibly beautiful love.

As for my little egg cracking ritual, it’s a daily meditation of what writing means to me and what it’s worth. And that’s what works for me.