Author: Gene Linzey

You’ve thought about Choosing a Comfortable Place to Write, so today let’s talk about Developing a Writing Routine.

How do you decide when to write … or even if you are going to write? Do you have a plan about when to write, or does the mere thought of writing drain your energy?

Those questions reveal the big problem for many people: they don’t have a plan. Well, this blog will help you jump a major hurdle.

Answer this: How do you eat a 72-ounce steak at The Big Texan restaurant in Amarillo, Texas? You certainly do NOT put the whole thing in you mouth and start chewing. You take one bite at a time.

So, how do we develop our plan? Let’s break it down into bite-size chunks.

Some folks write best in the morning while others prefer evenings or late at night. Some spend a week or two in a cabin in the hills to get away, or even go on an ocean cruise in a room of their own. Some writers set a word count, such as 500 or 1,000 words at a setting. Others prefer a page or chapter count, and yet others devote a certain number of hours a day to writing. (Up to this point in this blog, you’ve read 224 words.)

The average word count for a novel is 70,000-100,000. So, if you can write 1,000 words in a setting (that’s about 4 double-spaced, 8.5” x 11” pages with 1-inch margins), you can write your book in 70-100 writing days. One of my clients wrote his second novel in a month. (It had about 65,670 words.)

So, how do I decide when to write? My office is always ready for me, and my most productive time to write is in the evening and at night. (I call my office my Time Travel Machine because while in it I mentally go anywhere in the world or in the universe, and to any historical time period I choose.) And I don’t decide to write a book; I decide how many hours I will devote to writing each day.

1. Find the time and place that best suits you. 2. Develop your writing routine.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively

(There are 386 words in this blog.)

Some folks can write anywhere, anytime, and in any situation. I applaud them, and somewhat envy them, but that doesn’t work for everyone. Most of us need a place where we can shut out the noise of the world and think. And since humans are creatures of habit – subconscious as well as conscious – we should develop that place.

Choose a Comfortable Place to Write. It will be a place where you can go and quickly enter your world of writing. Turn off attention-demanding electronics, including the phone. Give yourself 10 to 15 minutes to enter the correct frame of mind. Keep distractions to a minimum.

The world-renown Paul Harvey was a radio broadcaster for ABC News for many years. He had a world-wide audience that included US presidents and other leaders. His morning reports were titled News and Comment, and his afternoon program was called, The Rest of the Story. 

His morning routine hardly ever changed: brush teeth, clean up, get dressed as though going to meet important people – including wearing his ever-present bow tie – eat breakfast, and go into his study which was in his house. His wife, Lynne, didn’t let anyone bother Paul during his writing time. Since his writing routine didn’t change, he was able to quickly immerse himself into the topic at hand, and became efficient in his work.

So, create your writing space. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively