Welcome to 40 Days of 3 Questions!
For the next few weeks, meet here every morning with a notebook or document to answer three questions about writing, about your status quo as a writer, or about the writing life. You can answer briefly and go about your day, or you can use this as a warm up exercise before your regular writing schedule. Whatever works for you, works for me.
Day 11 Questions
- What is your daily writing habit?
- What works for you about this habit?
- What is not working and why?
You may post answers in comments or keep your thoughts private–your choice!
And here is today’s pretty picture:
Ramona DeFelice Long 
My daily writing routine involves getting up way too early, seeing my husband off to work, doing some yoga, getting a cup of coffee, and doing my morning sprint with the Writing Champions. Then breakfast followed by more writing. It works because I get my one-hour sprint in before the emails come in demanding I do this or that– or before I have to go out into the world. What doesn’t work is weekends because I try to sleep in, and Hubby is underfoot so finding that hour to sprint takes some doing. Also, if I’m busy with outside-the-house stuff, I skip the yoga to get the writing done earlier, which leaves my back and my hip unhappy with me.
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Six days/week it’s coffee and an hour or less of catching up with the interwebs, then morning sprint at seven or before. A break, then working all morning until I’ve achieved minimum word count on a first draft (1500 words but I usually get more) or edits/paper readthrough/revisions until about eleven, when I go for my plotting walk. I keep a big mug of water on my desk to stay hydrated and to make me get out of my chair at least once an hour.
I can write a first draft in under two months, so it’s definitely working! What’s not working is too much sitting, and never getting around to cleaning my office.
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I love the photo today, but where’s the biscotti? My routine is to begin my sprint between 6:30-7:30am then write for an hour or two. If I am fortunate enough to have a day at home, I’ll write for another few hours in the afternoon. The habit of writing in the morning works for me because it helps to unclutter my mind. My problem is I am always working on more than one project so sometimes it is difficult for me to decide where to begin in the morning.
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What is your daily writing habit? It’s changed a little bit. I’m working the day job from home (mostly), so the morning is about work-work. I can generally get all that done by noon. Then a break for some trashy TV to rest the mind and lunch. The afternoon is about whatever needs to be done in the fiction world. On those days I have to go to the office, it’s the old habit of work-work/sprint at lunch/work-work.
What works for you about this habit? It gets the work-work out of the way first, including social media and email. I get a “brain rest” at lunch. And it makes me focus on my writing at my most productive time of day, which is the afternoon. It also means I can churn out Draft Zero in a month or so or divide my afternoon between revision and Draft Zero as needed while still letting me hit my deadlines.
What is not working and why? I still struggle with a regular routine on weekends. Family stuff and chores always seem to fill up the time.
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What is your daily writing habit? I am not a morning person, so am unable to join the sprinters, who often have a whole day’s work done before I’ve had my second cup of coffee. Usually I do “business of writing stuff” in the am and write fiction from 2:00 to 6:00, longer as required. I write 1250 first draft words most days. I can definitely rewrite/revise longer since I enjoy that much more.
What works for you about this habit? it’s a nice rhythm to the day, one that works for my husband and me.
What is not working and why? Writing in the afternoon means regular human stuff intrudes too often, from doctors appointments to lunch with friends. I often don’t find ways to make it up.
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***What is your daily writing habit?
The best time for me is 4-5 or 5-6. I’m usually drained after an hour, so I just plan on writing for an hour.
***What works for you about this habit?
It’s usually a good time of day for me. I’m not productive earlier so I run errands, mess around online, have doctor appointments, and stuff like that. I work for an hour, then have 23 or so more to cogitate on what should come next and how I should handle it.
***What is not working and why?
It doesn’t work when I can’t write at that time. Some days I can write later, but usually not. I’m worn out past 7:00 or so and watch TV.
I read the other posts and am a slacker compared to them! I usually do 500-1000 words a day.
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What is your daily writing habit? I do three morning pages first thing after I get up. (New year restart.) I have a writing time set aside for early afternoon as that time works best for me. That’s when I do my sprint.
What works for you about this habit? I start my day writing. Because of the morning pages I’m beginning to remember my dreams again and I feel better during the day. I know it’s good for me because on days when I can’t write I feel out of sorts all day.
What is not working and why? I am not getting back for my sprint or writing time each afternoon. Three days a week I go to the gym from 9 until 11:30. I am trying to figure out why I am not getting back to writing when I get back home after shower and lunch. A bit of fear about moving this project along, I think. My lunch break may be too long. There seem to be things that declare themselves more important and demand to be done. For a confident person I lack confidence about writing. I am really sounding wimpy and whiny!
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What is your daily writing habit?
What works for you about this habit?
What is not working and why?
Since late last fall, I’ve been in an in-between time, waiting on proposals or for feedback. I’ve kept on writing, finishing a stand-alone, writing two short stories and a proposal, finishing edits on the June book, and only recently getting back into a contracted-for cozy. (If you speak astrology and you’re wondering “Saturn return?,” you’re right!) So that’s made it hard to maintain my usual business-hours schedule — writing from 8:30 to noon, taking a break for lunch and reading blog posts, then returning to the page if I need to to reach my 10 page goal and do writing-related business. The habit works because it’s similar to the schedule I’ve kept since my first job out of law school, 34 years ago, and it tells my subconscious to take this seriously! But the uncertainty over ‘what’s next?” and what to focus on has made it a challenge. Now that we’re back from a wonderful mid-winter vacation, I want to honor my creativity and talents by keeping the commitment to give them the time they need.
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What is your daily writing habit? I try to write 500 words per day. I write in a chaotic enviornment. I enjoy that. A quiet enviornment distracts me.
What works for you about this habit? I wrote a book in this enviornment.
What is not working and why? Too many distractions. Chaos.
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