Writing routines – Writing Wrongs

The strange indulgence of being offline

So this week, I headed downtown to meet with my accountant to do writerly business-y type things. I discovered that the office was one block away from the statue of Mary Tyler Moore.

This felt fortuitous, so I had to stop to take a picture.

My morning routine hasn’t really changed since I started this full-time writing thing. I pushed my wakeup time forward by half an hour. I don’t know if this is my optimal wakeup time, but it feels close.

It’s true I no longer rush in the mornings to get an hour (or less) of writing done. The other thing that’s changed?

I don’t go online until noon. This is starting to feel like a routine now. But at first? It was like I was breaking some sort of rule. After all, being accessible was part of my previous job.

It’s not like people can’t contact me in case of an emergency. I don’t silence my phone. But I don’t get a lot of calls or text messages to begin with, so I don’t need to. I also don’t have social media on my phone (10/10 would recommend not having social media on your phone).

I obviously need to be online for this writing thing. And there’s a lot I like about being online, friends, interesting things to read, and hey, look, I’m writing this blog.

But it’s also abundantly clear that there’s a billion-dollar industry that’s intent on capturing as much (all?) of our time and attention. Not giving into that feels like an indulgence, a luxury.

And that has given me pause this week.

If you’re dealing with the polar vortex this week, stay warm!

Weekly writing check-in: I’m going to the moon

Okay, maybe I’m not going to the moon, but my stories are. I was lucky enough to secure a place on the manifest for Writers on the Moon.

Essentially it’s a lunar time capsule project conceived by author Susan Kaye Quinn. You can read more about how it’s going to work here. In short, my writing will be going to the moon and staying there–until some future humans (or aliens) come across it. At which point, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to read about Coffee and Ghosts.

This week, in addition to working on those margins in my life where I can write, I finished strong with Storystorm. I ended up with 51 ideas! I’m pleased with that. It was fun, and I enjoyed reading the blog posts each day.

I also made some excellent progress with Coffee and Ghosts, which is good since they’re going to the moon. (Well, not season four. The aliens will simply have to land on earth to read that.)

Weekly writing check-in: writing and routines

I had a lovely long weekend last week—lots of reading, lots of pondering, lots of relaxing.

This week, I’m up to 31 ideas for Storystorm. So, technically, I’ve completed the challenge, but I’ll keep going. One week left!

I’ve been thinking lately about writing and routines.

Before March 2020, I had a routine that was working fairly well for me. When I was in the office, I would write over my lunch hour, usually in one of our tiny conference rooms (called ponder havens—yes, I work for a tech company).

I’ve now switched to working remotely. I no longer go into the office, I tend to work through my lunch break, and while I no longer have the commute, I haven’t considered how to use that extra time.

Plus, I learned something significant this past weekend. Audiobooks are one of the ways I fill the creative well. I did most of my listening during that commute. I don’t just miss audiobooks; I need them. They help me create.

So, I’m looking at small, incremental changes I can make to my day to get more listening and more creating done. At this point, my days are fairly routine, so now’s the time to find those new margins where I can write.