How to Build an Imperfect, Yet Tremendously Effective Writing Routine

It all comes down to compromise.

Photo by Thom Holmes on Unsplash

It goes without saying that those who strive for perfection in life never reach their final destination. And more often than not, they struggle to get started.

As Margaret Atwood once said,

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”

Waiting for a perfect idea to miraculously appear will inhibit your tendency to come up with good enough ideas. And trying to find a perfect writing routine will adversely impact your ability to actually sit down and write.

But does that make strive for perfection wrong? I think not. In fact, the pursuit of perfection can often drive greatness.

Or to quote Vince Lombardi,

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

So how do we craft an almost-perfect, but still excellent writing routine?

Well, somewhat counterintuitively, let’s break down our routine, and then rebuild it from scratch. Sounds strange? Allow me to explain.

Step #1: Disassemble Your Routine Into the Variables That Make It a Routine

In every writing session resides two core, macro-level components that often determine how we get started: the external environment, and the internal process.

Image courtesy of the author.

The external environment constitutes those factors that make you feel good about writing, such as:

• The music you listen to in the background (if at all);
• The location you chose to write in;
• The time of day you feel most creative;
• The clothes you wear;
• And so on.

A fitting external environment is, therefore, one in which all of the above (and whatever else you consider being important) simultaneously co-exist in an ideal form — you’ve downloaded the right playlist, you’re in your favourite coffee shop, you’ve managed to get there before the crowd arrives, and you’re dressed in your ‘writing sweatpants’.

As for the internal process, this represents what we actually do when we sit down to write. For example:

• Do you spend time planning your story or your next chapter before you begin typing?
• Do you look to write and edit as you go along?
• Do you first write in a notebook and then type it up afterwards?
• How many layers of editing do you apply to each draft? What does editing look like to you?

The internal process isn’t so well-defined simply because it lacks tangibility.

As such, and to provide further clarity, allow me to present my own internal process. I give a lot of credit to this formula to Ayodeji Awosika, particularly for the first few steps listed below.

1. Mind-mapping: Start with a headline. Draw a circle around this. Draw 3–4 more circles around the centre circle, each representing a key point that is worth discussing (think: subheadings). Approx. 5–10 minutes.
2. Outlining: Construct a skeleton draft, with 3–4 bullet points pencilled under the intro, each sub-heading, and the conclusion. The mission here is to create sufficient structure to the story. Approx. 15–20 minutes.
3. Writing: Begin typing. Do not try to edit at the same time. Approx. 20–30 minutes.
4. Editing Layer #1: Re-write the entire story (especially the introduction). Source quotes, draw diagrams, capitalise headings/sub-headings. Approx. 1 hour.
5. Editing Layer #2: Read through the entire draft to identify weak sentences/paragraphs and re-phrase where necessary. Approx. 10–20 minutes.
6. Editing Layer #3: Run the draft through a grammar check (I use Grammarly). Re-read for any typos. Approx. 5–10 minutes.
7. Publishing: Find a suitable image. Give it a final read to catch any other typos missed in step 6. Click ‘publish’. Approx. 10–15 minutes.

In addition, I’ll also spend a few minutes every morning writing down 10 new headlines (also an idea borrowed from Ayodeji Awosika). This way, I have a notebook of ample titles to choose from whenever I’m ready to write my next piece.

As you can see, this step-by-step outline has several elements, all of which play a very important role in the internal process aspect of my own writing routine.

Step #2: Rebuild Your Routine by Identifying What You ‘Need’ vs. What You ‘Want’

Now that we’ve dismantled our routine into its various elements, we’re ready to rebuild it in such a way that it becomes effective in every scenario, no matter how we’re feeling or what we’re up against each day.

But first, we must critically analyse which aspects in both our external environment, and our internal process we need when we write, versus those aspects we want to exist before we get started.

Again, let’s consider this separately for our external environment vs. our internal process.

i) External environment: what we need vs. what we want

Let’s say you’re only able to write in the mornings. As soon as you hit midday, it’s game over. Your brain fails to deliver enough motivation or creativity to get you started. This time requirement represents a need.

But let’s say you enjoy writing while listening to some music. Jazz gives you a nice sense of flow, but if need be, you’re also able to write in silence or with your kids running around the house. Wearing headphones and listening to jazz isn’t a need, it’s a want.

This sort of analysis can also be applied to every other variable that makes up the external environment of your own writing routine.

ii) Internal process: what we need vs. what we want

Similarly— again let’s stick with my own 7-step routine for clarity — it’s important I spend time planning my articles. Failing to do so results in a poorly-written, woefully-structured story… and a frustrating experience. Planning my stories is a need.

However, my favourite days are also those when I’m able to produce an entire blog post, start-to-finish. But completing all 7 steps in one go (with a few breaks in between) is a want — I could easily plan a story on one day, write it the next, and edit it the day after. The end result is still the same — a well-thought-through article.

Image courtesy of the author.

An Effective Routine Is Concrete on the Inside and Flexible on the Outside

Now that we’ve disassembled our routine, and determined which elements matter most, let’s figure out how to put this awareness into practice.

Suppose you’re anticipating a tough week ahead at work — long hours, little sleep, and lot’s of coffee. You simply can’t see yourself blocking out any time to write in the morning. Nor will you be able to produce anything meaningful in the evening.

So, what do you do?

Well, if you know you need to write before midday, but you can still concentrate in a noisy environment (even though you’d prefer silence), why not try writing on the bus/train during your daily commute?

Equally, if it’s only a short ride into the office, and you don’t have enough time to write an entire blog post in one go, spend time planning your article one day, typing it the next, and editing it the day after.

By the end of the week, you should have something to publish. And having something is always better than having nothing.

A Final Thought

The critical point is to build a writing routine that is compatible with what works best for you, while also being flexible enough to work in most situations.

In essence, an imperfect, yet effective writing routine is one in which:

• You know exactly what needs to happen before you sit down to write — e.g. I’m only able to write before midday;
• You’re clear on how to begin when you do — e.g. I need to start with a mind-map;
• You know what variables you’re happy to let go of if they’re unavailable — e.g. I’d prefer complete silence, but I can get away with writing a noisy environment.

Ultimately, being able to write while managing 10,000 other things going on in your life almost always comes down to compromise.

And as long as you’re willing to compromise, you’ll always be able to produce articles that are good enough.

And that my friends, will always be superior to perfecting the art of producing nothing.