The start of fall is really energizing, isn’t it? The crispness in the air (if you’re in a four-season state, like I am, at least!), the school supplies neatly corralled in grocery store kiosks, and the return to routine. Call me crazy, but as much as I enjoy summer, I really love getting back into a good groove once autumn hits, especially when it comes to my writing life.
With being a busy work-at-home parent of two little boys, I’ve had to figure out ways to use my fringe time effectively to get my writing (and platform, which includes this website and all its various pieces) in. After studying lots of other writers’ routines and figuring out what works for me personally at this stage of my life, here’s the afternoon writing routine I’ve adopted. If you’re a writer, give it a try, and see if it’s helpful to you, too:
- Get prepared. I put my youngest down for a nap and grab all my supplies. I have a rotating monthly calendar of tasks that I chip away at bit by bit through the week, so whatever hat I’m wearing for a particular day determines the supplies I reach for. If I’m writing, I make sure to have my laptop charged and my notebook with plot points ready to go. If I’m editing, I grab a paper copy of my latest work-in-progress, a nice red pen, and maybe some colored highlighters. If I’m hammering out some blog or social media posts, I have sure to have a list of what I need to write about, along with all of my social media handles and passwords.
- Block out the world. After getting prepped, I pop in my earbuds and turn on a white noise app. I have trouble writing to music. I know a lot of writers like to have music playing in the background while creating, but I’m just not there yet, even if it’s instrumental. I do find white noise to be highly effective, though. My favorite app right now is White Noise SD. You can toggle between about twenty sound options in the free version, and I like to switch between them, depending on whether the scene I write is taking place in a busy cafe or a quiet, rainy street. Other apps I’ve heard good things about are Coffivity and A Soft Murmur. My husband is an artist, and when he’s not listening to electronica (his music of choice), he’s used A Soft Murmur.
- Set a timer. One of the nice features of the White Noise SD app is that you can set a timer within the app, and when your thirty minutes, or hour or whatever, are up, your white noise turns off. I like doing mixes of ten, twenty, or thirty-minute sprints to get my word count in for the day. If you’re particularly uninspired or just plain old groggy, starting with a ten-minute sprint feels way more doable than a writing marathon. And once you get your creative juices flowing, it’s so much easier to just keep going.
- Dictate, instead of typing. I’m a chronic overthinker (this is where all the people who know me in real life roll their eyes and say “no, really?”), so speaking my thoughts out loud helps me be a lot more organic and natural when writing something more informal, like a blog post. Sometimes I use it when I’m writing fiction, too. Once you get used to saying “comma” when you need one or “new paragraph” when you need to space down, it’s so much easier and a whole lot faster to speak dialogue between two characters. It truly becomes an exchange happening in real time, even though both sides of the conversation are you talking to yourself! Just make sure you find a good app– I recommend Dragon Dictate–, so you don’t wind up scratching your head over weird sentences when you go back to edit. One gem I got recently was “raspberries of discontent”. My husband jokes that must be the sequel to The Grapes of Wrath.
- Give yourself a reward. My reward’s usually dessert. Chocolate is a great motivator, isn’t it? I always keep squares of the particularly nice dark stuff sprinkled with sea salt in my pantry. It’s not the absolute healthiest thing to have dessert before dinner, but it sure does motivate me. And maybe I’m just being hobbit-ish? First dessert? Second dessert? What a literary excuse. I definitely don’t let my boys see me do this, though, because that whole “dessert is only for people who eat a healthy dinner” argument would be totally shot.
Is anybody out there a writer, as well as a reader? If so, I hope this post inspires you to create your own morning writing routine. If you already have a routine that works for you, share some details below! And does your routine include coffee and chocolate, too, or is that just me?
Keep reading,
Shaen
