Hi everyone.
Hope things are at least okay with you. Here I am a month before my pub date (5/26!) in the midst of a pandemic, and maintaining my routines has been a big part of how I’m keeping my head level during this crisis period, apart from doing my best to help others while in social isolation. I’m digging this brand-new newsletter writing routine I have going, and am much more motivated since deciding to focus this space on helping other writers. But before that, let’s talk about me! :)
FAIREST NEWS
I was on a list with RBG, Liz Warren, Sam Irby, and Hunter Schafer this week (The Advocate’s Women of the Year) so that was a highlight. Also Viking started putting out blurbs for Fairest on social media without telling me, and I was unprepared! They posted this one from Boy Erased author Garrard Conley, which yes, I’ve read before but hadn’t looked up in a while, so I spontaneously teared up when it appeared on my timeline:
MAKING YOUR WRITING ROUTINE, WELL, ROUTINE
Last week, I taught a Zoom workshop called “How to Structure Your Freelance Writing Life”—here’s the recording (expires 4/29) plus slides—and one of the fundamental things we talked about was the importance of building a writing routine. So I thought I’d expand on that topic for this week’s newsletter. Also, here’s a registration link to next week’s workshop, “How to Turn Your Book Idea Into Reality.”
Every morning I make coffee while contemplating life before I sit down to write.
Writing for me is an extension of my morning routine. I wake up, make coffee, have a granola bar or some cereal, let the dog out or take a walk, and then sit down to write. These days, if I’m not writing between at least the hours of 7 and 11 a.m., usually until noon, I get really restless, and I have to force myself to take breaks on weekends. This speaks to the power of routines.
Most writers I know have a routine akin to this. There’s the friend in grad school who wrote in the middle of the night and took late night drives as breaks. There’s the friend who prepares tea and writes a candle when she’s generating new work, then makes coffee and sits at a desk facing a blank wall. What we have in common is the sense that writing isn’t something we have to actively fight to do, but rather that it’s a fully integrated part of our lives, which leads to both writing more and writing without as much stress.
Here are some of my tips for developing a writing routine.
Keep track of when you like to write, and try to build a routine around that time. Most people I know have specific times when they have the most energy (I am one of those annoying morning people). Identify that period for yourself and try to write during that period every day to begin building your routine.
Do something easy before you work on something hard. I trained as a dancer for many years, and you don’t just start doing leaps when you step into a studio. You stretch for at least fifteen minutes. In the same way, I almost always start my day by freewriting just a single page on a notepad, either by putting whatever words to paper that come out of my mind, or doing a super-simple writing exercise. A few of mine have been: write alliterations; write sentences with no adjectives; write sentences fewer than ten words (I use a lot of compound clauses!).
Even if it’s just thirty minutes a day, find the time. While I was a staff writer at BuzzFeed News, I wrote from 7-9 a.m. before coming into work at 10. I promised myself that this would be temporary while I try to reach my goal of publishing a book.
Build rituals around your writing schedule. This is especially true when your productivity period isn’t at the beginning of the day, when your waking up rituals can just extend to writing. Doing something simple like making tea, taking out a specific notebook and pen, or putting your desk in order before you write, are easy and simple tasks that can lead more seamlessly to the writing itself.
Take breaks, but specify beginning and endpoints. I hate alarms, so rather than setting ones when I take breaks, I say things like “I will walk to the mailbox and back” or “I will play two songs on my ukulele” to give me specific stopping points for when I can back to writing again.
If it doesn’t take the first few times, keep trying, but don’t force it. It can take a while to build routines, and they often happen organically over long periods of time. Don’t stress if you can’t write at the same time every day at first. Maybe just make it a goal, and keep track of when it happens and under what conditions, so hopefully the routine can integrate itself into your life over time.
Until next time in my “writing this newsletter routine,”
Meredith
P.S. Please do share this entry on your socials if you find it useful; I’d love to reach as many people as possible. There’s a share button below if you’re getting this over email.