Blog Post: Writing Routines

[From Our Blog]

New blog post by Claire G – discussions in this thread, please
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Time and Head Space

When I was teaching full-time, I found it difficult to fit in any writing. It’s definitely not a nine-to-three job! My evenings and weekends were taken up by planning, preparing and assessing, as well as various administrative tasks. Not to mention the demands of family and general life. However, switching to part-time not only created free hours, it also provided some much-needed headspace, which is just as important (perhaps even more so?).

I applied for a place on a selective writing course and got accepted. This gave me the confidence to take my writing more seriously. I soon fell into a routine of writing every day, motivated by deadlines and the promise of feedback. I finished the book I’d been working on and started another, beginning a cycle of submissions to literary agents. I was brimming with ideas for more novels. I wrote four in less than two years. Eventually, my perseverance paid off. One of my novels caught the attention of a literary agent who offered to represent me. I’m writing yet another book while that one is out on submission to publishers.



So what’s my routine?

Let’s say from the off that it’s not for the faint-hearted! I’m usually awake by 3 a.m. I get up immediately and make my first cup of coffee, turn on my laptop and check what I call my ‘admin’: emails, KDP author platform, social media. Then I make my second coffee, open my work-in-progress and read back over yesterday’s work, tweaking as I go along. Finally, I check my Excel chapter plan and get cracking on some fresh writing. I complete anywhere from 500 to 2000 words (with several breaks for more coffee!) before my children wake up and it’s time to start the day properly. At some point, I tell my husband what I’ve written about and talk through any issues I have. He listens patiently and may offer advice, but really the conversation is for me to self-evaluate the progress of my story by expressing my thoughts and working through them aloud. My day ends at around 7 p.m.

I don’t know how I fell into this routine of very-early-to-bed, very-early-to-rise. I haven’t needed to set a morning alarm for a long time. It coincided with the invigoration of my dream when I got onto the course, so perhaps it was the freshly-sparked motivation coupled with the time/head space that was freed up by reducing my working hours. Perhaps excitement triggered my early waking – excitement to get new words onto the page, to find out what my characters would do next. Either way, it works for me. What works for you?



Recommendation

Every Friday, a new episode of the podcast Writer’s Routine is available. I listen to it on Spotify, but it’s available on other platforms. Dan Simpson interviews a different author each week. It’s fascinating to hear what works for them and reassuring that there’s no one way to write a novel.



Final Thoughts

Do you have a writing routine? What is it?

If you don’t have one, when do you get your writing done? And what would your ideal routine look like?

I know some authors like the bustle of a café. Some listen to music as they write. I need quiet. What circumstances help you to write?
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By @Claire G
Get the discussion going – post your thoughts & comments in the thread below…

 

[Hannah F]

My days vary immensely workwise. I also know when I sit down to write I will spend two to four hours writing, so being Irish, I divide each day into 3 halves: Morning, afternoon and evening, divided by dog walks (or if I'm not working, two halves will be dog out and about). The free half-day will be writing and chores. I am very motivated to write so if any procrastination happens it'll be the chores that get the chop. There will be days when my whole day is devoted to something else (like this Sunday's dog agility show), but I timetable that into my week to make sure I write at least 5 days a week (or, as is presently the case, edit).

 

[Sedayne]

Great post, @Claire G . It's really interesting to hear how other people work.

Like @Hannah F (and most Litopians I guess), I need no motivation; I love writing and will write and rewrite and edit as much as I possibly can, whenever and wherever I can. But my job (10am-7pm four days a week) gets in the way.
Unlike Claire, I don't think I could ever be an early riser, but I sit down at my computer for an hour before work every day. It's frustrating because I feel like I'm just getting going when I have to tear myself away.
But I carry my WIP in my head (and on my phone) all day. I can rework the paragraphs in my mind and jot quick notes on my phone in between appointments.
Evenings I spend with my husband. But I get a bit more writing or reading done while he makes the meal.
On my days off, I get a lot more done and this is when the more intense writing takes place.
Like Hannah, chores will always be low priority.
I don't need silence to write, or to read. I like listening to music while I write, particularly music from the era I am writing (currently early 70s).
I can also zone out quite happily while at my mum's on a Sunday evening with her and my husband watching TV while I read a novel on Borrowbox or review my own writing and make minor edits. I can write in a coffee shop or a waiting room, or waiting in line at a checkout. It's one of the great benefits of the autosave and cloud storage that the WIP is available everywhere, anywhere and at any time. I can stop and start in an instant.
Obviously I would much rather have a full and structured writing day, but until I can afford to retire from the NHS, this is how I make it work.

 

[Roz Morris]

I love writing with music! I used to think I couldn't write if I could hear music because it would take over my mind. I have a problem in cafes and restaurants that play music. If I can hear it at all, I tune out the people I'm with. It's just the way I'm built.
But I realised this was an absolute advantage with writing - especially with fiction. Music takes hold of my mood, puts pictures in my mind, emotions in my characters. It somehow slows the hurricane of ideas so I can look at them properly, study them, find the right words to put the reader exactly there.
I actually ran a blog series about this for a while called The Undercover Soundtrack. I found writers who also used music in this way and invited them to write about their books... by telling me the music that helped them build them.

 

[Sedayne]

I love writing with music! I used to think I couldn't write if I could hear music because it would take over my mind. I have a problem in cafes and restaurants that play music. If I can hear it at all, I tune out the people I'm with. It's just the way I'm built.
But I realised this was an absolute advantage with writing - especially with fiction. Music takes hold of my mood, puts pictures in my mind, emotions in my characters. It somehow slows the hurricane of ideas so I can look at them properly, study them, find the right words to put the reader exactly there.
I actually ran a blog series about this for a while called The Undercover Soundtrack. I found writers who also used music in this way and invited them to write about their books... by telling me the music that helped them build them.

Music is an important theme of my WIP, but even if I was writing about something entirely different, I would still work better with music; it's integral to my writing routine.