Realistic Writer Routine
Small disclaimer: English is NOT my first language. I am from Brazil, and typically, parents enroll their kids in an english course so they can learn the basics of the language and somewhat supplement the English classes of their school curriculums. Fast forward a few years, I married an American and have lived in the United Stated for the past 17 years. I’ve always loved to read, but never really developed the habit until my husband, boyfriend at the time, gave me a Danielle Steel book to read while he was away on business. It was one of those little books you buy from the drugstore. I absolutely loved it and from then on, he would always bring me a different one from his travels. I read romance novels mostly, and got to know many other authors, including Jane Austen, who introduced me to a whole different level of the English language. Let’s just say there was always a dictionary nearby whenever I was reading her books. And food. Her books always made me hungry. I have tried countless times to recreate the tea sandwiches from the endless picnic baskets. Ok, don’t get me started on Jane Austen or I would have to change the title of this blog entirely.
Some of you might have heard of a movie called Interstellar. Some of you might have watched it a couple times or 30. Who’s counting? This movie was the beginning of my fascination with the cosmos. I started reading Michio Kaku, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Neil Gaiman, Isaac Asimov and a few others. Suddenly, my interests shifted to astrophysics and String Theory. I even own a copy of Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, only to marvel at his genius.
It was upon reading The Future of Humanity by Kaku for maybe the third or fourth time, that I had an idea for the book I’m currently writing. Mars, A Journey Back Home is the tentative title. In this book, I explore the possibility that we are descendants of martians. There’s also space travel, AIs, dinosaurs, early humans and as it turns out, my passion for those specific subjects didn’t make me an expert on any of them. I have spent countless hours on research and will spend countless more.
To date, I have a whopping total of 4300 words to my first draft which I have started writing over a year ago. Not a lot to show for myself at the moment, so I need to step up my writing game.
For the past week or so, I have noticed that if I resist the urge to read the newspaper, (on print, I’m old fashioned and love the black ink on my fingers) practice yoga, make my bed, do a load of laundry or clean the house first thing in the morning, and just sit down and write instead, the story moves forward a lot faster. It is important for a writer to learn what time of the day their brain is working at its absolute best and use that power to harness all your creativity.
Doing house chores is the biggest procrastination factor for me, and if I prioritize it, the only time left for me to write is at night, after I’ve cooked dinner and cleaned the kitchen. And when that moment finally comes, my brain is fried and just wants to shut down. So I decided something had to change and my current routine is somewhat as follows:
Wake up at 6. Make my son his breakfast and lunch to take to school and see him off to school and my husband off to work.
Make a chai latte. Sit in front of the computer on my breakfast table and write for 2 hours.
Make breakfast. Usually oatmeal, or a bowl of fruits and nuts or a smoothie and coffee with a splash of almond creamer. Eat breakfast in front of the computer while I write for 2 more hours.
Get up, change out of my pjs, brush teeth, make the beds, clean the house, do a load of laundry.
Do yoga. Walk on treadmill or outside if its pleasant. (It hasn’t been)
Take a shower. Have lunch in front of computer while I write for a couple more hours. I usually have a green smoothie.
Get up with a stiff neck. Make dinner, clean kitchen. Hang out with the family.
Go to bed. Try to read more than 5 pages of a book. Fall asleep. Alternatively, watch old episodes of Pink Panther.
Wake up at 2 am with bouts of anxiety. Play Wordscapes on my phone until I fall back to sleep.
And let’s not forget YouTube and Instagram distractions throughout all of the steps above.
Obviously not all days are the same. There are errands to be run, appointments to go to, grocery shopping to be done. I have to take it one day at a time, making my best to reach the 100.000 word count I’m expected to write on my genre, which is Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy. And if I would like to finish my first draft this year, I will have to adhere to a routine as close to this one as possible. Making up for the days with a lower word count.
There’s one step I didn’t include on the list above and it’s my least favorite:
Have a social media presence.
I do have one, but it’s not very conducive to book marketing. So I have to get right on that. And one of the platforms I was advised to create besides Twitter, was a website. So here I am, introducing myself and my book to the world. I believe in my story and I will be damned if I don’t tell it.
Realistic Writer Routine
Confessions of a housewife writing her first novel.