Sunday, June 16, 2013

Routines

If there's one thing I've learned with an infant at home, it's that human beings love routine.  Once we start our nighttime routine for the baby, it's like a switch goes off in that developing brain that says, "It's bedtime.  I'll get a story read to me, followed by a nice bath, clean pajamas, and a warm bottle with a song to put me to sleep."
Why haven't I programmed my own brain to respond to writing like that?  It takes such a long time from the moment I open my computer until the time I start working on my book that anywhere from twenty to forty minutes have passed.  Yeah, time waster!  If you asked me what I do during that time on the computer, I wouldn't be able to tell you because I find myself stunned that so much time has elapsed.  It's embarrassing. 
I need a routine.  Granted, my routine can't take nearly as long as the bedtime routine does, but if I had some sort of routine that took anywhere from two to five minutes where my brain recognizes that it's time to let all my creative sauces spill then I could work for as little as fifteen minutes and still get something done.  Maybe I need a song or a snack that I only pull out when it's time to write.  The snack itself might be worth writing for...
So that's what I'm hoping to learn from all of you: what do you do to tell your brain that it's time to write?  

Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. KatalynJune 16, 2013 at 5:19 PM

    Sometimes I find myself in the same boat as you, but I usually know exactly where I spent my time: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and other book sites, and searching Bing/Google for pirated books that I need to send DMCA notices to. For me, I get my best writing in late at night after my baby goes to bed. As long as I can mute the TV or turn it off, I can usually focus and have a great writing session. If I'm still stuck, I try a new location - sometimes writing in bed or on the couch by the front window can do wonders.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jayne L. BowdenJune 23, 2013 at 3:18 PM

    When I'm getting ready to write it's usually either late at night or early in the morning so I don't have a lot of time to waste. I go to the same spot in my living room and I make sure to only open up Word. It helps, and is sometimes necessary, to turn off the Wifi on my computer so I'm not tempted to look at the little distractions, like Facebook. Also, I've found it very helpful to read over the last paragraph then get ready for work or ready for bed, depending on the time of day, so that while I'm doing those things I am thinking about what comes next. Then I sit down with what time I do have and I'm already in the zone.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)