What to Do When?

In today’s hectic world, it seems there’s never enough time. But maybe that’s because you’re doing some things at the wrong times.  What if you could pack more into each day by doing everything at the optimal time?

Multi-tasking has caused old-fashioned time management to become obsolete. Research suggests that paying attention to your body clock—and its effects on energy and alertness—can help pinpoint the different times of day when you perform your best at specific tasks, from resolving conflicts to thinking creatively.

Most people organize their time around everything but their body's natural rhythms. Do the demands of freelance writing, kids’ schedules, and social events frequently dominate your day? Inevitably there will be a clash with your body's circadian rhythms of waking and sleeping.

As difficult as it may be to align your schedule with your body clock, it may be worth it to try, because of possible health benefits. Disruption of circadian rhythms has been linked to such problems as diabetes, depression, dementia and obesity. When your body's master clock can synchronize functioning of all its metabolic, cardiovascular and behavioral rhythms in response to light and other natural stimuli, it gives you an edge.

When it comes to doing projects that require intense thought, most adults perform best in the late morning. As your body temperature starts to rise just before you awake and continues to increase through midday, your working memory, alertness and concentration gradually improve. Taking a warm morning shower can jump-start this process.

But your ability to focus and concentrate typically starts to slide soon after Noon. Most people are more easily distracted from Noon to 4 P.M. Also, your alertness tends to slump after eating a meal—the more food you eat, the deeper the slump. Do you find yourself getting sleepy around 2 P.M.? You might want to consider taking a short nap.

Studies have shown that fatigue may actually boost your creative abilities. You may find that tackling problems that require open-ended thinking works best in the evening when you’re tired. Perhaps that’s why many writers get flashes of insight before going to bed.

Of course, everyone's body clock isn't the same, making it even harder to synchronize natural rhythms with daily plans. Research shows that some people operate on either of two distinctive timetables. Morning people tend to wake up and go to sleep earlier and to be most productive early in the day. Evening people tend to wake up later, start more slowly and peak in the evening.

When choosing a time of day to exercise, paying attention to your body clock can help you improve results. Physical performance is usually best, and the risk of injury least, from about 3 P.M. to 6 P.M. Muscle strength tends to peak between 2 P.M. and 6 P.M. at levels as much as 6 percent above the day's lows, improving your physical ability. And joints and muscles are as much as 20 percent more flexible in the evening, lowering the risk of injury. These body rhythms hold true regardless of how much you've slept or how recently you've eaten.

Communicating with friends and colleagues online has its own optimal cycles. Sending emails early in the day helps beat the inbox rush. Messages posted early in the day are most likely to be read. For many people, checking their Email is has replaced reading the newspaper at the beginning of the day.

To start your day out on a positive note, check Twitter between 8 and 9 A.M.. That's when users are most likely to tweet upbeat, enthusiastic messages, and least likely to send downbeat tweets steeped in fear, distress, anger or guilt. Sleep will refresh you and will leave you alert and enthusiastic.

You should do other social networking later in the day. If you want your tweets to be re-tweeted, post them between 3 and 6 P.M., when many people lack energy to share their own tweets and turn to relaying others' instead. Posts to Facebook at about 8 P.M. tend to get the most "likes," after people get home from work or finish dinner.

Take Writing Seriously

Get in the habit—the writing habit, that is. The more you do, the better you’ll become. Unfortunately, life’s little annoyances—work, kids, grocery shopping, T.V. binge watching—all interfere with just plain getting down to work.  Such can be the life of a freelance writer unless you buckle down and take writing seriously.

There’s lots of advice for the taking—write every day, don't edit while you write, have goals. And while all of these are good, none are very helpful if you're trying to figure out just how they apply to you.

Before you can develop a new writing routine, you have to discover where you are. For how long do you normally write at one sitting? How often do you write? How many words do you produce in one session? When do you write—morning, afternoon, or evening?

To begin, figure out what type of writing ’s easiest for you to write—description, narrative, dialogue. You should be able to find out easily enough by paying attention to how much you write in any one session and what type of writing it is. You’ll soon see a pattern emerging.

Keep track of what you’re writing. Put a small notebook or pad of paper by your computer and note the following: type of writing, time you started, time you finished, and approximate word count.

When and how much you eat can also affect your writing. You’ll find that you’ll write more on an empty stomach. Your brain processes slow down on a full stomach, so your writing will also suffer.  And don’t think constantly sipping on a cup of coffee will help you to stay focused. In fact, it’s just the opposite. You’ll write better by reducing the amount of caffeine you have daily.

The same goes for exercise. A brisk walk before writing will get your endorphins going and thus make it easier to think and write. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to get up at sunrise and run five or six miles. Even walking briskly around the block will help get things going. Strength exercises, however, will have no effect on your writing.

If you’re addicted to your smartphone, as many people are today, turn it off when you’re working. Anyone who tries to call you will try to call you back later, or they’ll leave a message on voice mail. Answering just one call can distract you from your current train of thought. And if you don’t have a cell phone, make sure you have an answering machine and let it screen your calls.

The old adage is to write 500 words a day. That really refers to fiction writers. But if you can manage to write more, do it. Try to write a little more per day each week. It’s just like walking or jogging. Trying to do a little more each week will give you more stamina and, in the case of your writing, a way to increase your daily word count.

If you write non-fiction, the daily word count doesn’t necessarily apply. Most of the time you may be writing articles which are better dealt with in drafts rather than pieces. Non-fiction books, on the other hand, demand the same sort of daily word count objective as fiction.

In either case, if you can write more, you may want to switch projects. Perhaps work on an article in the morning and then on a chapter of your latest book in the afternoon. Switching subject matter or type of writing will stimulate you.

Do you just sit down to write, or do you know what you’re planning to write when you sit down? If you do the former, it will take you a bit of time to get started which cuts into your total writing time. But if you informally plan out what you’re going to work on, you’ll find you get a lot more done. And better yet, make a To Do List of the day’s or week’s work and check things off as you complete them.

Some writers, like athletes, are superstitious. They think they need to put on the right clothes, arrange their work materials in the right way, and turn on equipment in the right order. None of this will make you write more. These little rituals only get in the way of just sitting down and putting your fingers to the keyboard.

Above all, develop some good writing habits. Try to write for at least two hours a day. Don’t start writing and just go on and on. You’ll find you’ll have to redo most of what you wrote in the last half of the time. 

Strike when an idea is hot. If a good idea comes to you, even at odd times of the day, take advantage of it and get to your computer—or at least jot it down on a piece of paper. This could be an idea for a story or perhaps a way of solving a problem you’re already having with a passage. If you travel a lot, you may want to start carrying a small notebook with you to write down ideas as they come to you.

Work in your head. If you’re going to be writing full-time, you’ll find yourself writing even when you’re not at the keyboard. A good time is just before getting up in the morning. For many, that’s an ideal time to think out scenes or chapters.

Lastly, find the time to write that’s best for you. It’s different for everyone. Some writers get up super early and then knock off at Noon. Others start around 8 or 9 A.M. and write until perhaps 2 P.M.. And still others write in the evenings. Find your best time to write—not do research or read, but write—and stick with it.

Get Into the Writing Habit

Everyone has habits—both good and bad. Some say we’re creatures of habit. It’s human nature. In fact, all mammals are. In the animal world, it’s called instinct, but for us humans it’s called habit. Most people concentrate on their bad habits. But everyone has some good habits, too. Which you have more of is up to you.

Developing good writing habits takes time and discipline. It also takes some determination and dedication. So how do you develop good writing habits?

First start by finding time to write. Not just here and there in your busy weekly schedule, but a specific times. You don’t need a lot of time, just a reasonable amount, say an hour or two, several times a week. If you use the time you set aside to write productively, you’ll get a lot done. If you wile away that time daydreaming about your first novel, you won’t get anything done.

Begin by making a schedule for yourself. Lay out everything you do in a week, including relaxation time and meals, plus employment if you work at a full-time job. Look to see if there’s any time left. Don’t cut into your relaxation time, but look carefully at how much time you spend at meals. You’ll soon discover that you can easily set aside an hour or two to dedicate to writing.

The trick is to stick to your writing schedule. The time you’ve set aside doesn’t have to be spent actually writing. You could be doing research or editing. But you should be doing some sort of writing-related activity.

Like physical exercise, writing often isn’t a lot of fun while you’re doing it. The key is to make it enjoyable. Begin by writing about subjects that interest you—subjects that you’re passionate about. Your passion will produce the words.

Some writers literally go straight from their bed to their computer the first thing in the morning. For some working full-time at another job, this means getting up with the roosters. But even if you’re a full-time writer, starting the first thing in the morning is a good habit. And any distraction that takes them away from their work kills it. Once you get into the rhythm of writing, the material will flow from your fingertips, almost like magic.

To get yourself into a good writing habit, start by setting aside a designated time to write, each day or on selected days, according to your schedule. Try, if possible to set aside the same time each day, so that your mind will get used to delving into writing problems at that time. Many fiction writers set a number of words to write each day. Non-fiction writers, on the other hand, usually set a certain number of pages to write at each session.

Another good habit to develop is proofreading. With spell-checkers and grammar assists, too many beginning writers fail to do careful proofreading of their work before anyone else sees it. Set up a routine of sifting through your work. First proofread it by reading it from the bottom to the top and from right to left to throw our brain off. This will allow you to see mistakes you might otherwise miss.

Follow proofreading with polishing. Nothing says amateur like a piece that hasn’t been carefully polished. During this process, you’ll delete things that don’t fit, tighten up sentences, take out wordy phrases, and eliminate repetition.

By developing these good habits, your writing will go forward. And the more you do it, the more successful you’ll become at it.

Time is of the Essence

Time is an elusive thing. It can get away from you if you’re not careful. Before you know it, days disappear into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. And what have you accomplished? For many, the answer is not much. Well, it’s time to put your foot down and get something done—at least as far as your writing is concerned.

So how do you find time to write? Finding time to write in today’s busy world can be a real challenge. Ever since computers appeared on the scene, life hasn’t been quite the same. Now Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and God knows what other social media happenings fill the hours between sunrise and sunset. And don’t forget about Email. Sending and especially answering electronic mail can take up a big chunk of your day.

And then there’s work, school, or whatever other endeavor you’re pursuing, plus the time necessary for basic necessities like eating and sleeping—oh, and don’t forget exercising. So where does writing fit in?

Everyone has the same amount of time every day. How you choose to use that time makes you successful at what you do. However, if you aren’t willing to devote some serious time to writing, then perhaps you should take some time to think about how you use your time.

Focusing is the key. You must focus your time so that you accomplish what you set out to do in writing, as well as some but not all of the other stuff. You need to decide what you want to do and what you can do without, so that you can write more—or forget it.

The choice isn’t between writing and doing something else that you don’t want to do. The choice is among a nearly overwhelming array of things that you enjoy doing, such as checking in with your friends on Facebook, reading for pleasure, or having people over for dinner. Then there’s going to the movies, watching T.V., and traveling. You may rather do the dishes, walk the dog, or do laundry than write. So faced with so many options, most beginning writers tend to choose too many and feel like they’re short of time.

While some people can fit little bits of writing or editing in between other chores, that’s just not being realistic. To get any major writing project done, you have to dedicate time to it. To get published requires a considerable effort, so little bits of time writing here and there just won’t cut it.

Writing productivity demands dedication. To get anything done and done right, you have to just do it. And that means intense concentration for the time you’ve chosen to allot for writing. Wanting to write—a dream a lot of people have—and actually writing are two different things. Writing every day produces not only more writing but also more ideas for future writing. But writing posts on Facebook or answering Emails doesn’t count. The type of writing you should be doing is the kind necessary to advance your writing career and improve your writing skills such as articles, short stories, and plays.

Writing, like exercising, is its own reward. When you don’t do it, you feel as if you’re cheating yourself. Successful writers don’t just sit around waiting for inspiration, they sit down and begin to write. At some point, inspiration usually strikes. This is much like runners who exercise in all types of weather, no matter how busy their schedule may be. Like physical exercise, writing is often not enjoyable while you’re doing it. And like exercise, it’s just a matter of discipline. If you aren’t a disciplined person, you can certainly become one.

Distractions are the bane of serious writing. They kill the flow. So turn off the Email reminder and your cell phone and let voice mail answer for you. Stay in flow. Focus on what you’re writing. This is especially important for big projects like books. Find a convenient spot to stop for the day or stop after your daily quota if you’re writing fiction. Don’t write until you get tired. You’ll only have to redo it.

To stay focused on your writing while fulfilling your daily responsibilities, including answering Email and catching up with Facebook, set aside an hour or so every day to write. Or at least set aside an hour three days a week, or even one day a week. The key is making this time a regular slot in your schedule. Don’t let anything deter you from it. And while you’re at it, write at the same time every day. And lastly, write no matter how you feel----even if you feel like you don’t feel like writing. If you want to be a writer, you must write.

8 Ways to Encourage Creative Ideas

Creativity isn’t so much a matter of finding ideas as it is one of learning to become receptive to them. Creative ideas are all around you. It’s up to you to prepare your mind to see them.

The following eight ways will help you do just that. Practicing one or several of them will ensure that creative ideas begin to flow and stay flowing.

1. Have a fresh mind. Nothing blocks creative thinking like a mind clogged with all sorts of other stuff. Everyday life fills your mind with everything from trivial items, like what to make for dinner, to stress over finding a healthcare provider before the deadline. To get creative ideas to flow, you first have to clear your mind of all extraneous thoughts. That doesn’t mean you should forget them, only that you should put them on the back burner.

2. Meditate. An easy way to clear your mind is to meditate. No, you don’t have to seek out the service of a Indian guru. But you do have to find a quite spot where you can be alone with your thoughts. Go sit in a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor and your arms at your sides. Close your eyes, take a deep breath through your nose and hold it for four counts. Then let it out slowly through your mouth while you count back from 10. When you reach 1, let your entire body relax. Imagine yourself in a beautiful place. Let your mind wander. Do this for about 20 minutes a day and soon you’ll find yourself overloaded with creative ideas.

3. Exercise your body. Nothing refreshes your mind like physical exercise. No, you don’t have to join a gym. But a brisk walk will do wonders. While walking, breathe through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This will increase the flow of oxygen to your blood and your brain.
You don’t have to be a long-distance walker—even a half mile will do. But do it regularly.

4. Find an activity that unblocks your creativity. To unblock your creativity and get those juices flowing, find an activity that you enjoy. It has to be something that will encourage your imagination—something besides writing. Perhaps you need to reorganize your storage spaces or plan a new kitchen. Whatever you choose, make sure it requires you to think.

5. Try a change of scene. While some writers think that if they go off in the woods that ideas will come to them and they’ll be able to finish that novel that’s nagging to come to life. But honestly, the same thing can happen working on your laptop while sitting at your kitchen table. However, once in a while it’s good to get away. No, you don’t have to book a flight to a far-off island. But you can get away for a weekend to some place different—some place that will stimulate your mind and inspire creative ideas. This may be a trip down a coal mine to learn how miners endured long, hard days below ground, or it may be a trip to a big city to immerse yourself in its cultural sights. Wherever your go and whatever you do will spark bring you back home refreshed and full of creative ideas.

6. Experience new things. Along with getting away, you may want to try new things. If you’ve never flown before, book a flight. Or perhaps take skiing or mountain-climbing lessons. If adventure isn’t your bag, then try something that’s more to your liking, such as trying new foods or experiencing a new, intense culture.

7. Seek out creative people. Nothing brings out your creative side like hanging out with other creative people. See if there’s any sort of creative/artistic group in your area that you can join. Take classes—either writing or other artistic subjects. Meet with your classmates for coffee to discuss the class and the subject, and ask them about what they’re doing creatively at the moment. Collaborate with another creative writer on a project. The two of you will encourage each others' creativity thought process.

8. Know when to stop. Above all, no when to stop. Nothing ruins creative flow like going on a binge. Limit the time you pursue creative ideas. The more time you spend at one sitting working on a project, the more limited your creative thought will be. Periodically give your mind a rest by working on something else or even doing household chores. Because while you’re washing last night’s dishes, your subconscious mind will be hard at work on your next batch of creative ideas.

Time is of the Essence

One thing you have on your side as a freelance writer is time. It can work for you or against you. Essentially, it’s all about how you play your cards—what you do with your time.  Play them right and you win. Play them wrong and you lose. But there’s always that constant of time.

You have plenty of time available. But does it seems to fly by more quickly than you’d like? That may be because you probably squander your precious working time. Realistically, you can’t write for hours and hours. The quality of your work will suffer, and your body will rebel.   

During an average workday, a writer’s work load consists of various important as well as less important items. Much of your time involves sending and receiving information. During the long hours you work, you’ll be doing a lot of fragmented things. Does this sound like your typical work day?

You need to be realistic when it comes to using your time wisely. Don’t take on too much, or you’ll set yourself up to fail. Only you know how much you’re capable of handling. Overestimating the number of projects you can handle at any one time will surely lead to disappointment. And if you keep that up, it will be more difficult to become more productive.

One of today’s biggest problems for writers is Email and varied other electronic distractions. If you receive lots of mail, you may find yourself taking care of it instead of your writing. It’s easy to procrastinate. And then there’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, to name a few of the social media distractions facing all of us daily. They’re addictive. And as with your Email, you may find yourself spending more time on them than on your writing. Set aside down time to take care of these tasks.

You may want to check your mail the first thing in the morning, then at a couple of specific other times during the day. But limit the time you spend with it. Before you know it, you could easily spend most of your morning doing basically insignificant tasks. And turn off any message or sound telling you that you have mail. That will surely draw you away from your work.

Avoid other distractions, too. Let your voice mail or answering machine take messages for you. You can call whoever called you back later. And don’t forget to turn off your cell phone. If you’re constantly checking your cell, you won’t get any work done, either.

You may also want to keep a piece of scrap paper handy on which to jot down thoughts about other projects that may pop into your head as you’re working. If you don’t, you won’t remember them later. And if you stop to pay attention to them while you’re in the midst of writing, you may find that they’ll knock you off your writing track.

Make writing a priority. But it’s also important not to write for long periods at a stretch. Take breaks every so often. Get up and walk around. Go for a walk, Do laundry. But don’t take your break at your computer. Surfing online isn’t really taking a break, and you’re body needs to get up and move around.

Schedule other duties around your writing. Write when you feel mentally sharp. That can vary from person to person. You may feel sharper earlier in the morning, so get up earlier to write. Or you may feel sharper later in the afternoon. Figure out when your mental peak occurs and work with it. Do menial tasks like cleaning or taking out the trash during your mental down time.

To help you get the most out of your time, create a daily or weekly To-Do List. (See my post “Smart To-Do Lists Get Things Done” from Sept.6, 2013). Use the A-B-C priority system. Once you have made your To Do List, place an “A” next to items of top importance, a “B” next to those less important but that still need to be done, and a “C” next to those with the least importance.  You may find that the ones with a “C” next to them may complete themselves automatically or may not need doing at all.

Schedule five minutes of review time into your day. Look at what happened yesterday, what will happen today, and what you need to do tomorrow. The more you plan out your day, the more you’ll accomplish.

If time is getting between you and your writing, start doing something about it before it’s too late.

Keep Mind and Body in Balance

Writing is a very demanding profession. At times—especially when payment isn’t forthcoming or problems arise with editors—it can be extremely stressful. And stress can play havoc on your health and your writing. It’s a vicious cycle.

The impression most people have of writers is that words just spill forth with little effort—that ideas just appear. But for most writers, this can’t be farther from the truth. Most people, albeit most writers, believe writing to be entirely a mental process. But to make sure your mind is in good shape to write, you must make sure your body is also in good shape.

No, you don’t have to go to the gym every day, but regular exercise is one way to make sure your mind is sharp. And if your mind is sharp, then your writing will improve.

Consider playing a sport. Swim during the summer. Ski, especially cross country skiing, in the winter. Play tennis or basketball. Whichever sport you decide on, make sure it’s one that offers opportunity for rather vigorous exercise. And while playing golf will get you outdoors, the leisurely walking—and for many riding—around the course won’t do it. Bicycling would be better. But if you choose to cycle on level ground and cruise along most of the time, you won’t get very much exercise. Even a walk around your neighborhood each day will invigorate your writing.

There’s a definite connection between the moving body and the thinking mind.

But exercise alone isn’t enough. You must also make sure that your diet offers you the energy that you’ll need. A balanced diet, enhanced by plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, will serve you well. Stay away from trendy foods and especially processed foods.

Sugars provide energy, but too much sugar provides you with a false sense of energy. Sure, you’ll get a sugar high, but that won’t stay with you. And to maintain your mental abilities throughout the day as you write, you need foods that will give you energy that stays with you. The same can be said for caffeine. The more caffeine you take in, the less sharp your mind will be. Above all, avoid processed snack foods like chips and such. Stick with natural snack foods like fruits and nuts.

Some writers get out and do things that contribute to their writing. Ernest Hemingway went out into the world and actively participated in life. While he may have gone a bit overboard—no one says you have to go fight the bulls—he experienced life to the fullest and then wrote about it. Everything he did influenced his writing in some way. On one hand it may have been the experience, itself, while on the other it may have been details that he then included in his stories.

It’s easy to work continuously throughout the day. Once you get going, you may not realize that you’re doing nothing but sitting at your computer. Make time to get up and move. Go outside and take a deep breath of fresh air. Go for a walk. You’ll be glad you did.

Wake Up Your Wild Side

All writing begins with sense of adventure and an appetite for life. If you’re starting this year off safe in your comfort zone, perhaps it’s time to wake up your wild side and your imagination.

Start out by taking a good look at yourself. What makes you tick? What are you afraid of? What does that fear feel like? Knowing more about yourself and how you handle various situations makes you able to anticipate problems before they occur.

Make a list of your accomplishments during the last year or so. Also list problems you had and how you solved them. Did you get creative in resolving them? Then think back to when you were young. What did you do for fun? What turned you on? Perhaps you’ve been away from that spontaneity too long.

When opportunity knocks, do you answer the door or hide behind it? To take advantage of opportunities, you have to be ready.

First, get yourself in physical shape. While you may not have to climb mountains, you may have to conquer obstacles in the path of your career. The better shape you’re in physically, the better shape you’ll be in mentally. Exercise and eat right. You don’t have to go to extremes, just eat more fruits, veggies, and whole grains and go for a walk every day. And not a leisurely walk around the block, but a faster one around a few blocks. Increase the distance a bit every week.

Learn to recognize opportunity. This may come in the form of something you overhear or something you’ve read. Then give opportunity a chance. Don’t let that inner “No” take over. Ask yourself “What if?”

Look behind the scenes at situations. Go where you’re not supposed to. If you’re caught, make up an excuse. Think fast on your feet. Ask questions—lots of questions. Curiosity is one of the prime attributes of a good writer. It takes nerve to ask questions, especially if you’re not a journalist. But you’ll learn off-the-record, juicy information that may suggest nonfiction book and article ideas as well as fictional plotlines.

When you stay as you are, you get stale. Your life and your writing remains static. Resolve to learn something new. Take a class. Take time to follow one of your interests that you’ve been ignoring for a while. Start working on that book idea that’s been gnawing at you. Or learn some new information about a subject that you’ve been interested in for a while.

Learn to eavesdrop on others’ conversation. Sure, it’s impolite, but it may yield something juicy. When you go out to eat with someone, keep one ear tuned to them and one to the tables around you. You never know what you’ll hear. It may just turn out to be something you can use in your next short story or novel or perhaps it may spark a new investigative article.

One of the best places to eavesdrop is a coffeeshop or café. Often people who haven’t seen each other in a long time meet over coffee to talk their heads off, or people meeting for a not-exactly-a-date first date, or to discuss something important, will do it in a coffee shop. Take an older couple at Starbucks. After listening for a while, it was obvious they had met through an Internet dating site, had chatted with each other for a while, and were finally meeting. The conversation yielded some interesting facts about what older people are looking for in a mate.

On another occasion, a family from Germany had stopped at Starbucks for a break while sightseeing. Even though they were speaking German, it was interesting to see how they reacted to their surroundings and each other.

Or what about the younger couple and their two kids at a fast-food restaurant. While the mother rocked her newborn in a stroller, her slightly older son put on a tantrum. The scene that followed brought up some interesting questions about sibling rivalry and how new parents deal with it.

Finally, do something that normally turns you off. Never been to a strip club? Go. Afraid of what you’ll find out about yourself? Skeptical about mediums? Attend a séance. Do nursing homes creep you out? Walk into one, find a lonely person and talk to them. Avoid making judgements. Just let what happens happen.

Busting out of your comfort zone to seek out unique experiences will not only make you a more complete person and bring authenticity to your writing, but also it may suggest new ideas and new work. While you don’t have to get into the ring with the bull like Ernest Hemingway, you can at least watch from the stands and gain an insight into bullfighting.

Writing as Routine

Do you sit around waiting for the writing muse to strike? Do you have to go to some exotic place to get inspired to write? Do you think writing is all about imagination–well, fiction writing at least? Do you have trouble getting started writing? If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, then perhaps what you’re lacking is a routine for your writing.

Good writing relies on writing as much as you can–regularly. While this applies to just about anything you do, most people don’t consider writing in that way. It stands to reason that the more you cook, the better at it you become. So why wouldn’t that apply to your writing?

I always tell my writing students that learning to write is like taking a shower or a bath. Someone had to teach you when you were very young. First, they washed you daily. Then, as time went on, you learned by repetition to wash yourself. But you didn’t stop there. As you grew older, you began to establish a washing routine. Only you know where you begin to wash your body and where you end. Some people even have routines for “quick” showers when they’re in a hurry and “soaking” showers or baths when they want to relax. And let’s not forget the “body beautiful” shower or bath when you take care of other things such as trimming hair and nails.

Now let’s apply this to writing. To get your mind in the write mode, you need to write regularly often–daily if you can. And you need to write at the same time every day, even if it’s for a short time. By doing so, you’ll require less time to warm up, so that you’ll be able to continue where you left off the last time you wrote. If you wait too long between sessions, you’ll lose your train of thought which means you’ll have to digress. So each time you sit down to write, you’ll have to go back a step before you move forward.

It also helps to work on the same piece of writing for a stretch. This way your mind is only working in one direction for a while. If you flit from piece to piece, your mind won’t be able to pick up all the pieces, and it will take you more time to get started each time.

I’ll be discussing this more in the coming weeks. But for now, figure out when you can spare an hour from your busy schedule. This can be daily or two or three times weekly. Then stick to it. Writing is like exercise. If you don’t do it regularly, it takes a while to get back in the swing.