What do NFL quarterbacks and writers have in common? On the surface, it seems little. But look closer. Smart ones and those in any creative and competitive field share a trait. Most have routines.
As you know, I like to share tricks of the (writing) trade. Years back, when I was an emerging writer, Sharon, a mentor shared how she had routine to keep focused on writing. I thought how she probably drank just the right coffee or chewed the right gum. Whatever it was, she was a published writer and I wanted that.
Came to find out, she always left her desk messy when finishing writing at the end of the day. Wow, and I thought I was not getting published because I was not a neat-freak. I liked that. She also read in her genre for a half hour before starting to write. And I thought something like that was sacrilege and a huge time waster. I liked that too.
Routines can help us have a more creative life, as long as they’re creatively healthy ones. Check out “10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers,” www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/10-habits-of-highly-effective-writers
Here are some other routines that have worked for professional writers I know.
Mary sets a goal of completing six pages of a writer who must complete six pages of a novel before she stops for the day, but before she gets this far, she has a cup of tea, reads the paper (comics first), and takes a long walk.
Jake does the house chores, packs lunches for the kids and waves good-bye to his spouse before knuckling down to the keyboard and his weekly column. “If I don’t do all these, I feel guilty,” he says, “And my writing is stiff.”
Best-selling and incredible mystery writer Louise Penny said, at an event I attended recently, that some of her most creative thinking is done while soaking in a hot bath.
Gloria starts the writing day by sitting in front of her computer, before turning it on, to ask God for direction in her writing ministry.
One of my routines is to start the writing day by saying thank you to someone for something. These days I often text or e-mail to handwritten notes and yet right now I have two lovely cards yet to be written, thank you cards on my desk, which I’ll write tomorrow morning. Sending a snail mail letter or card is old fashion and I don’t know about you, but they’re a breath of fresh air to find in in the mail box.
Recently a writing student asked, “How do you have so many people to thank?”
Yep, I’m blessed, but more so this routine helps me to get my creative mojo working. It gets my brain into thinking in words. I thank family for just being there, friends for putting up with my creative jaunts into whimsy, editors for being kind to my work, agents for responding to my e-mail, colleagues for listening to my newest, craziest schemes. I also write fan letters to my favorite authors. Have you tried that?
With Thanksgiving and our entire December season of being thankful coming fast and furious, why not adopt my routine? Or one of the others. You might just increase your creativity and feel good at the same time.
Most of all, I’m thankful for all of you. I can’t see your faces and most of you, I’ve never talked with, but I know you. Thank you for just being you.
Thank you for this Eva… It got me over a serious hump, following a year of finding every excuse to not put pen to paper, or digits to laptop as it were… I suffer from having always written with a deadline. I only wrote for outside sources; always for the other, never for myself. Your article on routines in your online course “Writeriffic: Creativity Training for Writers” prompted me, in the first assignment, to choose something from a would-be smorgasboard of writing samples and observe that choice for clues around my preferred genre. Immediately I chose from my subscription to the New York Times a personal essay, written by E. Annie Proulx, about her own life. I’d read several of her books, and recall how her novel “The Shipping News” affected me as a western Canadian who had worked as a journalist in the Maritimes. But her style as a personal essayist struck me in a way that for now, allows me to write freely, because I have so many life stories people insist I should tell. Also, I have struggled too long with ‘telling the truth, but telling it slant’… the journalist in me just won’t let go…
This article is very insightful and much needed. Prior to reading this post, I would not have thought I needed nor had a routine, but just realized I do. I usually begin my day like most individuals with a To Do List. Before I can write, do homework or anything else that is not considered a To Do Item, I feel stuck and unable to write. Once I complete the list or a good amount on it, BAM, my mind seems to open up and then I am free to write or whatever. Thanks for helping me to identify this simple yet powerful focus tool for my toolbox!
Eva, I love your blog! This piece was like a breath of fresh air to me. My husband and I have been married almost two years now. He is retired and I’m on disability due to a diagnosis of leukemia. So, we don’t HAVE to be any certain place at any certain time. What he loves most about being retired is NOT having a routine. He does what he wants when he wants. Sometimes he stays up late and sleeps late. Other times he gets up early, then goes back to bed and takes a nap. We live in a small one bedroom condo, so I’ve allowed myself to just go with the flow. But in doing so, I don’t get half as much accomplished as I did when I was alone and in a routine. I’m not blaming him, but I’m realizing my problem is because I no longer have a routine. Due to our situtation, I may end up having somewhat of a “flexible” routine, but I can still have one. This post is a real encouragement to me, especially concerning my goals for writing. I am a new student of yours in “The Craft of Magazine Writing” and I’m looking forward to learning all that I can from you. I’m already a fan of your writing. God bless you and write on!