My Writing Routine

My writing routine is sacred (most days). No one and nothing can get in the way of it (unless I’m tired). 

Having a writing routine has changed the course of my career (has it?) and I highly recommend building one for any budding writer. 

Full disclaimer - my writing routine does change as my life changes. What it was a year ago is not what it is today. 

I’m big on listening to yourself and giving yourself what you need. If writing for 2 hours every day doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. 

If you can only squeeze in a sentence every two weeks - brilliant! That’s more than a lot of people, and you’re still putting steps in to get that book done. 

If you need to take 5 months off a year. Take it. 

You’re the boss.

My Writing Routine:

6am Wake up, roll out of bed, drag myself to the kitchen and pour a cup of coffee,

6:20am Be surprised at how long it took to make a coffee, sit down at my desk and open my laptop.

6:25am Open Medium.com, post an article, reply to comments, and read a couple articles.

6:50am Post to my website.

7am Write one word of my manuscript.

7:05am Throw back the coffee, throw on my work uniform, brush my teeth and my hair, run for my life to get to work on time. 

Yeah… I’m not a full-time writer either. 

Some days this will be more heavily focused on the manuscript, and some days I prefer to stay in bed. 

Often, I’ll work on the most pressing work as it fits. A lot of my editing was done on a Saturday morning. Reading medium articles sometimes happens during my lunch break. And website posts sometimes happen after work, before I cook dinner. 

As much as I would love to say you can change your life by only focusing on your writing, most of us still have lives we would like to continue with and jobs that pay the bills. It’s important to be realistic and understand you don’t have to be Stephen King on day one. 

He too used to work full-time and worked writing into his schedule when he could.

What does your routine look like at the moment?