The Importance of Routines

I prefer to get my writing done in the mornings - set aside a few hours of quiet time for just me and my project. Sometimes, though, life reaches a large hand in and snatches that morning time clean away from me. What then? Then I make time to write in the evening. I find that a daily routine is important to me, but just as important - being flexible with that routine.

What if I'm not inspired? I write anyway. I don't wait for inspiration to strike. I need to be writing whether I feel motivated or not. If I wait until I feel like doing something, the house would NEVER get cleaned. The laundry would never get done. I wouldn't exercise. I don't believe that true writer's never have to force themselves to sit down and write. Hogwash. There are days that we don't feel well, that we have other things on our mind, that we'd much rather watch shows on TiVo or go to the movies/coffee/lunch with our friends. What makes us writers is that we WRITE. Consistently. Not just when we feel like or inspiration strikes. If my tush isn't in my chair with my laptop on, I might miss out. Thirty minutes into struggling with something, I might hit gold (I often do). That carries me through the rest of the writing time I have set aside, and sometimes takes me over it! If I had made an excuse not to write that morning, I wouldn't have that new little plot twist.

What if I don't have a lot of time? Some days, I don't. I teach three days a week. I know that I have to come home and walk the dog, feed myself, tidy up. I still set aside time. Even if I can only get 30 minutes in, I take it. I sit down and write something for that 30 minutes. I have found that my writing routine can come on vacation with me. It's completely adaptable to whatever and wherever. I was camping - I still had time for a long hike every morning, then family time around the campfire every evening, and daily naps! I told myself I would write for an hour each day. It ended up being a minimum of two hours every afternoon. I didn't always work on the three projects I had going and that was okay. I wrote short stories, poetry. But I wrote. Every day.

Do you have to write everyday? No. I have friends who set aside time three days a week. They write those three days. The other four are too busy. One of my three-day-a-week friends is far more productive than I am. Those three days are precious to her. She gets the most out of the time that she has. It's an easier commitment for her. It works quite well. I have another friend who writes for 8 to 10 hours a day when he is working on something. At the end of the day, our writing routine needs to work for us or we won't be successful.



What is your writing routine? Do you write every day? How long do you write for? What works best for you?