Writing Routines that Work 1. Write two hours a day It’s a goal that many of us have, and it’s a worthy one: make writing a part of your daily routine. If you can do more than two hours, that’s wonderful, if you can only do less, that’s okay too. The trick is to write for the same amount of time every single day, and to be dogmatic and consistent about it. Another strategy that gets repeated a lot—even in fiction!—is to write five hundred words a day. See the writer-protagonist in Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair, who dutifully writes his “daily five hundred” for twenty years, uninterrupted by love or war. 2. Write when you’re hot Practice pays off, but if the daily grind really isn’t your thing, then follow your instincts. Write when you’re ready to pour whole chapters/stories/volumes out onto the page. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has spent his career considering the behaviors and thought processes of creative folks: writers, scientists, comedians, mountain climbers, visual artists, musicians, chess players. The common link? An emphasis on entering an “ecstatic state” while engaged in their chosen art form. With that in mind, while you’re on a hot streak, and can feel yourself engrossed in a project, go with it, and keep on going. 3. Use a Playlist I have several friends who swear by this method. Just like you’d do for an exercise routine: make up a playlist of your most inspiring or mood-specific songs, enough to last the duration of your writing session. Music may even affect your work in ways you didn’t expect. As Dan Chaon said of his 2005 short story collection, You Remind Me of Me: “I notice whole passages…that were strongly affected by some of the stuff I was listening to as I wrote, bands like Sparklehorse, Red House Painters, The Innocence Mission, Julie Doiron, Yo La Tengo, Idaho, The Eels.” 4. Keep a notebook (or take notes on your smartphone) This is a good option for those on the move, and for those who write best in short, quick bursts. These days, there’s a temptation to share your brilliant thoughts in real time. But hold some back. Carve out a secret world for yourself where your ideas can incubate, amass, connect, and flourish. Most well-known notebook keeper and advocate? Joan Didion. 5. Work in your head This is the anytime/anywhere solution. Just don’t forget to (eventually) record your ideas in a more tangible form! “I can write anywhere,” Hilary Mantel has said. “I long ago learned to write and polish a paragraph in my head.” On a similar note, see this lovely piece by Silas House, on the importance of always maintaining a writerly view of the world. 6. Wake up early / Stay up late These methods are flip sides of the same coin, with a shared goal: solitude. Discover those odd hours when the world is mostly quiet and still, no ringing phone, no self-replenishing inbox, etc.. Because when it comes down to it, writing is between you and the page. The knowledge and the story are already inside you; everything else is a potential distraction.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 12:17:28 +0000
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