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Do you really need a daily writing routine?

This might be a controversial opinion, but perhaps you don’t need a daily writing routine after all. Would it help? Definitely! But do you need to give up on writing if you can’t manage it? Absolutely not.

We’re all different, which doesn’t only mean that our lives are different. Our brains are different, too. Different goals might need different approaches as well, which is why I have an exercise routine but no writing routine.

In this post, I tell you how to get more writing done even without a daily writing routine.

Related reading: My writing processADHD writing tipsWriting while parenting

You need predictability to establish writing routines

I like the idea of having a morning writing routine, but there’s something that would make it nearly impossible for me – children. Not just any random children, but the ones that live with me. They call me mum.

Yes, you can tell me to wake up before they do, but how am I supposed to know when they wake up? Even in their sleep, they would smell that I’m trying to do something by myself and they would try to meddle. Meddling kids are bad for writing. (Related: How I wrote a book while parenting two children.)

Of course, creating routines is a way to bring predictability to your life, but there’s only so much you can control. A childless person with regular work hours can more easily start a new routine and stick to it than someone with children or someone who has to attend university classes with changing schedules.

You can still try to establish routines even if your days are a bit chaotic, but if you keep failing at it, perhaps it’s time to try something different. Another problem with routines is that if you miss your daily routine for the day, you probably think you don’t have to try again until tomorrow. But why can’t you do the thing now? And what if you miss your chance seven days in a row, will you just keep postponing it indefinitely?

You need a contingency plan when you establish a writing routine

Something that helps unite routines and chaos is having a contingency plan. It means that you decide beforehand what you’re going to do when things don’t go as planned.

Making decisions is tiring for our brains and if we’ve already done something a certain way (like skipped writing when the desk is too messy) it’s so easy to keep doing things the same way. That’s why it’s important to decide beforehand what you’re going to do if something unexpected happens and you can’t write when you had planned. That way you’ll make sure that you’re making the right decisions and you’ll avoid analysis paralysis when you should be writing already.

Don’t be wishy-washy with this – actually write your contingency plan on paper. That way you can tell your lazy brain that if you’ve got a headache, you take a paracetamol and start writing 30 minutes later no matter what because you’ve written it down. Eventually the process becomes automatic and you won’t even have to think about it.

Be a writing opportunist instead of having a writing routine

I like to write whenever I can, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it has actually helped me finish writing multiple full-length novels. As it turns out, I can write a lot more often than you might think, and so can you.

If you want to get some proper writing done, you do need to have priorities. Do you really need to catch up on watching that new show on Netflix? Do you absolutely need to watch the news or talk to your neighbour about how crappy everything is? Can the laundry wait a little longer? (I don’t mean to say you leave wet laundry in the washing machine, I’m sure that happens to you often enough as it is.)

I’m not saying we all have the same 24 hours in a day because that absolutely isn’t true – I definitely spend a big part of my day on stuff that many other people can pay someone else to do. What I am saying is that you need to be critical about how you spend your time because you can either make excuses or make progress. Would you rather write your novel at your own pace in the next five years or keep saying you don’t have the time and never write it at all?

Set weekly or monthly goals

I’ve never been a fan of daily writing goals because that isn’t how writing works for me. How should I be able to predict how much I can write? And why should I be content with reaching my goal of one thousand words on the days when I’ve got enough steam for three thousand?

I’m well aware that daily goals work for some people, and that’s great! But I know there are people reading this whose brain works the same way as mine does.

I like to give myself bigger project-based goals because I like the feeling of finishing something. What I don’t like is the feeling of a daily grind, which is why I prefer to have weekly or monthly goals that I can work on at my own pace and still feel like I’m getting shit done. Didn’t write more than ten words today? Doesn’t matter, that’s still progress. There’s going to be a day when I can do 3000 words. This is how I get stuff done, and if you don’t work well with daily goals, you might want to give it a try, too.

If you’re not sure how much writing you could feasibly get done in a week or a month, just start with something that sounds vaguely suitable and then adjust the goal when needed. Also, remember that some people are motivated by hitting their goals while others find almost unattainable goals more motivating.

Just remember that it’s not about reaching your goals and checking boxes, it’s about making progress with your writing. The goals are a tool for reaching what you actually want to achieve.

Progress is always progress

“Failing” at having a daily writing routine can make you feel like you’re not getting anywhere, which isn’t true. Any progress is still progress. Not hitting your goals also doesn’t say anything about you as a person or as a writer, and you can simply decide whether you’re going to feel bad about it or if you’d rather just keep writing.

Do you know how books are written? One word at a time. And it doesn’t matter how you get those words down as long as you do it, and I know there is a method that works for you and your life. There are so many people out there in the world who only think about writing, so you’re already worlds ahead of them.

Tips for setting up your daily writing routine

If you feel like having a solid routine would work for you, here are some tips for how to make that happen:

  • Make sure the people you live with know when you’re going to write.
  • Prepare optimal conditions beforehand. If you need a tidy desk to be able to write, tidy up before it’s time to write instead of using it as a reason to procrastinate.
  • Do things that help you get into the writing mode, whether that’s having your Spotify playlist playing in the background or writing in the exact same spot in your house.
  • Make sure that you have water and snacks within hand’s reach (and that your phone is somewhere further away, please).
  • Try the Pomodoro method if you struggle with staying focused, meaning that you should focus on writing 100% in 25-minute intervals that are separated by 5-minute breaks.

Which is better: morning writing routine or evening writing routine?

In recent years there’s been a lot of talk about the “5 AM club” and how the most successful people get up before anyone else. Usually there’s also elaborate morning routines involved, which makes me think these people either don’t have children or they’re not the primary caregiver in their family.

If writing first thing in the morning works for you, great! It must be a nice feeling to achieve your writing goals before you do anything else. At the same time, there’s nothing inherently more productive about writing in the morning and you can just as well do it in the evening if it works better for you.

If you struggle with feeling creative in the morning, try writing in the evening instead. If you find your mind keeps racing with story ideas after you’ve written in the evening, try doing it in the morning. If neither of them works, I’m happy to tell you there’s this whole thing called “afternoon” that you could try. You could even write in 15-minute segments at different times of the day and get the best of both worlds.

Should you follow the writing routines of famous authors?

Writing like a famous author sounds tempting – surely there must be something to their methods if they’re famous, right? I’m sorry to break it to you, but there’s no magic solution for writing unforgettable books except that you just have to keep writing whenever you can. That’s what other writers have always done.

For example, Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway were both morning writers and stuck to strict routines to get their writing done. Franz Kafka took a nap when he came from work and then did his writing late in the evening. Apparently Maya Angelou wrote in a hotel room while Victor Hugo wrote in his home in the nude.

Instead of trying out these famous writing routines, I think what you need to learn from them is this: you have to keep writing whatever it takes in any way you can, just make it work.

Do you need more help with getting started with writing your book?

Writing books isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but I’ve got something to help you get started. I created this free 5-day course to help aspiring writers finally start writing their novels instead of scrolling through writing tips on Tumblr, and I would love it if you could join us. Did I mention it’s totally free?


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