‘Shop Around’ Until You Find The Best Writing Routine For You
Developing a writing routine that works best for you takes time.
Have you ever moved to a new city?
Where did you go for your very first grocery trip? Chances are you went to one of the bigger known supermarket chains in the city.
Why?
It is the best starting point. It’s the one everyone knows, it has a big, hard-to-miss sign.
But after a while of living there, you learn new places. You learn the other places to stock up like the local grocer, the farmer’s market, the dollar store, and even the bulk store that lets you scoop how much or how little you want.
Once you learn the stores, you learn which days are best. You learn which days the fruit and vegetable store has the freshest and widest variety. You learn who has the best price on meat. And just where to go to get the family size of your favourite snack.
But you only learn these things by going and trying new places, on different days and at different times.
Creating a writing routine is no different.
You may be comfortable writing in the afternoon, but you won’t know for sure if you prefer mornings until you actually try writing in the morning.
You won’t know what type of music gets you in the best writing mode until you try writing with different types of music playing in the background. Or maybe you are a no music, no distractions writer?
You won’t know if you write your best with the grove of the coffee shop or the quiet of the library or the familiarity of home until you try all three. Or where you work best based on the mode you are in until you try working in different places in different modes.
You don't have a perfect writing routine on the first day you sit down to write. Possibly not the first week or month either. It comes with time and the continued decision to keep writing and making time to write at different times and on different days.
So, if you’ve just started writing and given yourself a schedule, show up as often as possible. And on the days that life causes you to miss the scheduled writing time, show up later, or even earlier, and for even just fifteen minutes if that’s all you can do.
We don’t start with our best writing routine already figured out. You figure it out along the way.
‘Shopping around’ to find your writing routine means sitting down regularly to write, and testing different methods, timeslots, etc. until you develop your unique writing practice.
