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mmerriamOver at the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lobo_luna community, I'm taking part in a question and answer session. I thought I'd start posting the questions and answers here as well. Though I'm answering the questions pretty quickly at lobo_luna, I plan to cross-post a question and answer here only on Sunday and Wednesday.
Question #2: What is your daily routine like?
My daily routine is actually in flux right now, as I try to reset it and find what works for me at this time.
My routine was to get up in the morning before my wife and spend an hour reading and responding to emails, reading and responding to Livejournal and other such sites, and planning out my day. Once I had![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
careswen out the door, I would take care of housework and errands in the morning (Why yes, I'm a kept writer, lucky me) and write in the afternoon, starting around noon and stopping around 4 pm.
Now, life being what it is, this didn't always worked out. Meetings, doctor appointments, the maintenance man needing access to our town home, changing schedules, and any number of other distractions were tripping me up, and they always seem to happen in the afternoon during my writing hours.
I recently discovered that I work better as a writer in the morning hours, my brain is fresher and it's just easier to get the words on the page. Right now I'm in the process of changing the routine to be: Get up early and check email and such, take care of my diabetic cat, and write aftercareswen leaves for work at around 6:30 am. I take a half-hour break for lunch at noon, and then do freelance work, run errands, get in some housework, and/or do the business end of being a fiction writer, such as sending submissions, finishing requested rewrites, general bookkeeping, and working on things like this interview. I stop in the late afternoon to cook dinner and give the cat food and insulin. In the evenings I might squeeze in more writing, depending whether or not the wife and I have plans.
But here's the thing: No matter what kind of interruptions I run into, I have to get at least 750 words a day, five days a week (even if they suck). If that means I'm awake and writing in the wee hours, or I have to write in spits and spurts wedged in between all the daily mess and noise, then that is what I do to reach those 750 words. Because the only way to improve as a writer is to sit your butt in the chair and write, even if that means you've got to do it around the rest of your life and in small pieces. Writing is my job, and I have to treat it as such: Finding a routine that works in important, at least to me. Your mileage may vary.
lobo_luna community, I'm taking part in a question and answer session. I thought I'd start posting the questions and answers here as well. Though I'm answering the questions pretty quickly at lobo_luna, I plan to cross-post a question and answer here only on Sunday and Wednesday.Question #2: What is your daily routine like?
My daily routine is actually in flux right now, as I try to reset it and find what works for me at this time.
My routine was to get up in the morning before my wife and spend an hour reading and responding to emails, reading and responding to Livejournal and other such sites, and planning out my day. Once I had
careswen out the door, I would take care of housework and errands in the morning (Why yes, I'm a kept writer, lucky me) and write in the afternoon, starting around noon and stopping around 4 pm.Now, life being what it is, this didn't always worked out. Meetings, doctor appointments, the maintenance man needing access to our town home, changing schedules, and any number of other distractions were tripping me up, and they always seem to happen in the afternoon during my writing hours.
I recently discovered that I work better as a writer in the morning hours, my brain is fresher and it's just easier to get the words on the page. Right now I'm in the process of changing the routine to be: Get up early and check email and such, take care of my diabetic cat, and write after
careswen leaves for work at around 6:30 am. I take a half-hour break for lunch at noon, and then do freelance work, run errands, get in some housework, and/or do the business end of being a fiction writer, such as sending submissions, finishing requested rewrites, general bookkeeping, and working on things like this interview. I stop in the late afternoon to cook dinner and give the cat food and insulin. In the evenings I might squeeze in more writing, depending whether or not the wife and I have plans.But here's the thing: No matter what kind of interruptions I run into, I have to get at least 750 words a day, five days a week (even if they suck). If that means I'm awake and writing in the wee hours, or I have to write in spits and spurts wedged in between all the daily mess and noise, then that is what I do to reach those 750 words. Because the only way to improve as a writer is to sit your butt in the chair and write, even if that means you've got to do it around the rest of your life and in small pieces. Writing is my job, and I have to treat it as such: Finding a routine that works in important, at least to me. Your mileage may vary.
