5 Easy Steps to Start Your Writing Routine

One of the best pieces of advice I can offer for being more productive in your writing life is to set up a writing routine. For years, I wrote when I felt like it, falling into the trap of believing I needed inspiration to strike before I could write a single word. And guess what? For years, I hardly wrote anything.

Sticking to a writing schedule doesn’t sound nearly as much fun as the romantic idea that writing is some gift from our muse and when she’s ready to bless us with her presence, the words will flow out of us exactly as they are meant to be published. But that’s not at all how it works.

Having a routine in place for your writing is the best way to take your writing seriously. You don’t go to your job “when you feel like it” or make dinner for your kids “if you’re inspired.” You do these things daily because they need to get done. The same should be true for your writing.

So how do you figure out a writing routine? I’ve outlined five easy steps to help you get started.

1. Plan Out Your Week

The first step is to sit down and plan out your typical week. Pull out your planner and block out your schedule. Include your work hours, including commute times, regular extracurricular activities for you or your kids, your sleeping hours (make sure you’re still giving yourself enough time to sleep!), gym time, and anything else you do regularly throughout the week. You don’t necessarily need a paper planner for this step, but some form of visual representation of your week is best. I use a digital planner in the Goodnotes app on my iPad, which I absolutely love. I was a diehard paper planner girl for years before I discovered digital planning, which completely changed my life. But more on that another time. Below, I’ve shown an example of how I might block out my weekly obligations.

2. Highlight Free Time

Now that you’re able to see your weekly obligations visually, go through and highlight any free time where you might be able to squeeze in some writing time. Get creative here. Do you usually wake up with just enough time to throw on clothes and race out the door for work? Maybe you could wake up thirty minutes earlier and fit in some writing time. Do you clean up dinner and spend the rest of the evening scrolling through social media and watching TV? Swap out your phone for your computer and rack up a word count instead. Try not to think about what you’re giving up. Instead, focus on what you’ll be gaining.

3. Schedule Some Writing Blocks

Look at the highlighted sections of your week. Each day, schedule in a block of writing time over those highlights. Try to schedule a variety of times and lengths. For example, on Monday you might decide you’ll wake up an hour early and fit in some writing time, but on Tuesday you’ll try writing in the evening for thirty minutes instead. Think of this step as an experiment. Try to be as creative as you can in finding spots where you can schedule a writing block and then commit to keeping that schedule for the week. Make sure you allow yourself enough rest time, though. If you still go to bed after midnight, attempting to wake up at 4:30am won’t get you anywhere. Make the necessary adjustments to your schedule to give each writing block its best chance for success. If you really have a crazy schedule, you could stretch this step to two weeks to allow for more variety in your writing times.

4. Complete Your Weekly Writing Sessions & Take Notes

Commit to this schedule you mapped out for one week (or two). Try to disconnect from distractions as much as possible during your writing blocks. Let others in your household know what you’re doing and explain to them that during those blocks of time, you’ll be unavailable. Turn off your computer’s internet and leave your phone in another room if necessary. During these blocks, focus on your writing. If you’re not currently working on a writing project, find writing prompts to work on during these times or write in your journal.

Now for the most important part: after each writing session, take notes about how it went. Were you too tired to focus on your writing? Were you distracted by your kids asking how long until dinner was ready? Did the words come easily, or was it a fight to get anything down? Did you set aside an hour of time but found yourself exhausted after thirty minutes? How many words did you write? Write down everything that worked or didn’t work during each writing session to come back to later.

5. Determine Your Best Writing Time

Now that the week is complete, look back at your notes. What time of day did the writing come easiest for you? What amount of time worked best for you? Was an hour too much? Was thirty minutes not enough? Try to pinpoint the best length of time and time of day.

For the following week, try to find a consistent block of time and schedule that into your weekly routine. If you decided waking up early before your kids was the best option, try doing that consistently for one week and see how it goes. If your lunch hour is your best time, bring your computer with you daily and commit to writing on your break.

If after another week you find this isn’t working for you, try something new. This part may take some trial and error. The important thing is that you commit to testing out different options until you find one that works for you.

My own writing routine has changed over the years, and I’m continually looking for ways to increase my available writing time. Initially, I woke up a little earlier each morning before work and worked on my writing while eating breakfast. Once I started going to the gym regularly, however, my morning writing time was replaced by gym time since that was my best time to fit that in. I’ve tried waking up extra early to get both in, but that just didn’t work for me. I then started using my lunch hour at work to write. Unfortunately for my wallet, Starbucks is the place I work best outside of my home, but my budget and I have since made peace with that. Since I’ve been working from home, I found lunchtime is no longer the most productive time for me, so I’ve shifted to writing in the evenings instead.

It’s normal for our lives to change and for us to need to juggle things to fit in our writing time. The important thing is that we keep those blocks of writing time in mind as we make out our weekly schedules, that we give our writing enough priority in our lives to work it in. Because if we don’t place value on our writing time, no one else is going to do it for us.

There’s no boss over our shoulder telling us we need to sit at our writing desks eight hours per day. And, sadly, there’s no muse who will arrive each day like clockwork and force us in front of our computer either. We’re on our own here. We have to do this for ourselves. And that takes discipline, but I promise you, it’s worth it