Last month I read Haruki Murakami’s new book, Novelist as a Vocation. In a chapter called “So What Should I Write About?” he gives advice about observing the world around you, gathering details about people and places. And he says this: “You gather these bits, affix a simple label (place, time, situation) and mentally file them away in your personal chest of drawers. It is possible, of course, to jot them down on a notepad or something of the sort, but I prefer to trust my mind.” HE PREFERS TO TRUST HIS MIND. A bit later in the same chapter he says, “Come to think of it, there have been very few situations when I wished I had a notepad on me. Something truly important is not that easy to forget once you’ve entrusted it to your memory.”
I am not anti-portable notepad like Murakami, but I, too, don't jot down...anything. I occasionally remember to open my Notes app on my phone to write something down, but over the years I've come to accept that if an idea is truly good and viable, it will return to me, even if I can't remember it in the moment. I also find that when I reread notes I've jotted down I...can't make sense of what the notes are referring to ("what is cheese plates in bedroom????") or I remembered what I wanted to remember anyway.
My routine is also all over the place, something I am trying to work on for 2023. I'm ADHD, which can often be described as a sort of time-blindness, which means that I either procrastinate until the absolute last minute or I'm so hyperfixated as to let everything else fall by the wayside. I'm usually more on the procrastinating side than the hyperfixated side (unless you count being hyperfixated on the WRONG THING AT THE WRONG TIME), so the most useful piece of information I've found was "Begin before you're ready." And I realized that I can spend HOURS just preparing myself to do a thing, justifying it by saying, "Oh, I need to know this character motivation, oh I need my morning beverage, oh I need to, etc." I don't need to be THIS ready to start something. So I've adopted that as my mantra.
I am SO FASCINATED by this concept of accepting that you'll remember an idea. I know there are ideas that work this way for me, but I also know that I have been falling asleep when an idea came to me, and I thought, "Oh, this is huge and obvious, I'll remember it in the morning" and I never do.
Everyone I know with ADHD, when they were diagnosed, it was like this gift of not only the validation of all of the ways they knew their brain worked, but also this possible owner's manual, so you could say, "all right, I might have a tendency to hyperfixate, or procrastinate, and how do I work with that?" (and then there might be owner's-manual-type tips and tricks out there telling you how you might work with it). Whereas with neurotypical brains we might get more "just commit to buckle down and do it!" and that's not that helpful.
I have always been in awe of Murakami! To be honest, I don't love his writing as much as I feel I should, but his "What I talk about when I Talk about Running" is an absolute favorite! I also struggle with having a consistent writing routine. But, I often think, as long the writing stays consistent, does it matter what the routine looks like? Not sure I believe that entirely. Also, it's so gratifying to be mentioned alongside Mason Currey--he's one of my absolute favorite writers! And, so looking forward to your east-coast letters with Mark!
I haven't read as much of Murakami's fiction as I want to, but I also loved What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and I thought Novelist as a Vocation was really interesting.
In some ways I feel like consistency is overrated, because a lot of inspiration (for me) comes from veering off in directions I hadn't planned on, THOUGH ALSO I know that it's by sitting down every day and doing some writing that the writing gets done. I think it comes down to: I consistently act like a writer. And figuring out what that means has been a process.
Let me know what you think! He does talk a lot about his routine where it sounds like he's very casual about the fact that he just sits down and writes these amazing novels, but I appreciated that in the end. It took me a minute to get over myself ("oh, sure, it's easy to write if you're Murakami, I guess, what am I supposed to do with advice like 'why not go to Hawaii for eight months and write your novel there'???") but there's a lot that resonated with me as far as, like the title says, approaching writing as a vocation.
I've learned so much from this post! I need to work on my routine - I struggle to write without feeling guilty about it, because there are things I feel I SHOULD be doing, and I feel for me that writing doesn't count as a 'should'.
I like this post Julie! I like your newsletter too! And thanks to my friend above, Elayne, who gifted me a month of your newsletter, I’ll be upgrading to the paid one! Anyway, I thought this post of yours was timely, as I am in the middle of reading The 12 Week Year for Writers. I can’t remember where I came across it, I wasn’t looking for it, but surely it came from one of the many people/things I follow about writing. I’m always, always, looking, trying, failing to stick with a writing routine. Seeing what other people are doing and trying to do it myself. But I love how you said, that you already have a writing routine, it may not be like these others, but it works for you. And really, that is the same thing for me. My writing routine is super, super flexible. Changes on a daily basis, but at the end of the day, I typically get the work done, that I need to and ultimately want to . So maybe, I should stop being hard on myself and take what works for me, when it works for me, and that is that. Quit spending my time on trying to put myself in someone else’s mold of a writing routine! But I don’t quite want to give up on the 12 Week Year yet, as I do think there are some valid things in there, that I want to try my hand at! But this might be it! I’m not going to go down the rabbit hole of routines! I’m going to look at what I do and work from there. So thank you for the validation of my writing routine. Because it is just that. Mine. And it only need work for me!
I have never heard of The 12 Week Year or the 12 Week Year for Writers! That sounds interesting! Let me know how it goes. I like it as a concept to try and play with, see how it goes. I tend to take books like that and see how they actually might work in my real life. Though I do like the idea of trying it straight through once to see how it feels. Like when you make a recipe the way it's written the first few times so you can understand how to improvise. I'm thinking of The Artist's Way, too, which is also 12 weeks, and how that's a long time but not TOO long. You can change a lot of your habits in 12 weeks.
Anyway! Hi Bridgette! Thanks for saying you like my newsletter! And I think that if you're getting the work done at the end of the day, you're already in a great place, and you can play around with different ideas and routines if you want to. I do really like reading about other writer's processes and routines, just in case I'm like "oh! wait! I should run a 10k every afternoon!" (not an actual thing I thought, but I appreciate it).
This made me feel so much better about my own routine. I, too, have a tendency to do the comparison thing and think I’m not measuring up.
Honestly, I only just embraced my inherent status as a writer and put it at the forefront of my routine this year. Before that, it was sporadic and shoved into the margins.
I haven’t quite worked out my routine yet, but so far my days looks like this:
Wake up at 4:30, ready to exercise by 4:50. Done by between 6:00 and 6:20. Make breakfast and pray, do Bible reading and study, take a shower, make a smoothie.
Write from about 9:00 until 10:20.
Rest of the day is for client work, admin work, cleaning, and the like. Also take a mid-afternoon walk and read a book at bedtime.
I would like to increase my writing time, but for now this is what I’m exploring.
That sounds like a good routine! And you can play around with it -- like purposely schedule another writing block in the afternoon and see what happens, or write until 11:00 and see what happens. I think I got stuck on this notion that it has to be fixed, because when you see it written down it seems so immutable. But it's possible that the writer who said that's their routine has a completely different routine now!
Although I do think it's helpful to THINK ABOUT routines, to think about what we want to change and do more of, and how can we fit that into our day.
It is certainly and iterative process. I’m coming to the conclusion that I will need more time for my personal writing, but I’m uncertain how I will be able to fit that in until I have a more steady stream of clients on the business side.
And I think it's fine to wait until you have more clients! Just being aware of your goals helps you reach them (at least, the way I do it -- I'm not much for aggressive goal spreadsheets).
I did some comprehensive 2023 planning and am working in 6-week experimental sprints to see what sticks and what doesn't. I plan to review at the end of those blocks and keep going with the most helpful tactics. :)
I am in awe of this. And should probably do something like it. Right now I have a post-it that says "MORE WORDS" on my monitor, and that is my entire comprehensive 2023 plan. Wait, actually, that's not true. I have some other goals and plans. This is interesting to me! The planning! The planning for the goals, I mean. I have goals, and I have plans, and they don't always align or overlap.
I’m still in the embryonic stage of this kind of planning. I follow a podcast called Redeeming Productivity, and the host has run an end-of-year planning webinar two years in a row, which has been very helpful. He has a framework with a workbook that’s a good guide. I also read the book Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor, which also had some good tactics. Still fleshing out what that looks like for me.
It does take a few days to do this kind of planning, sometimes as long as a week, but it’s worth it. You can keep coming back to it and refining and adjusting as needed throughout the year so that you stay on track. It doesn’t always work out, as that’s the nature of life, but it’s helpful for me to have a roadmap. 
Your routine is so similar to mine, I’m also up at 4:30 most days. I work out, get the kids to school, then sit down and write for 2-3 hours. After lunch I do admin stuff. By 2:30 I am done for the day though because the eldest is home from school. And this is only the schedule on m/w/f because my littlest is home with me on t/r. He starts Kindergarten in the fall though and I’m excited to sink into this routine FIVE days a week. :)
Aw, I love that our routines are so similar. One thing I'm thinking about is sort of a mobile routine, or a changeable work block or...whatever it would be called to be flexible in the face of ever-changing outside forces that poke at my routine. How can I prioritize writing enough to get it DONE, even when there are doctor's appointments and sick kids? Or, like, my kids have not had a full week of school since mid-December, from holidays and half days and now two snow days in a row. And how can I have a protective mental box built around my routine so that I can write from a place of "this is what I want and need to do" and not resent the disruptions and also not sabotage myself by making excuses for why I can't do it today.
Well, not necessarily! I mean, there are always going to be other things to do. Like, right this second I COULD be working on the novel I have neglected all week, and instead I'm here in the Substack comments and placing the grocery order for next week (which, believe me, is also important). I think it all comes down to being aware of what you want to work on and what you're actually working on. Have you read Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman? There's a lot of stuff in there that really shifted my perspective about what we spend our time on.
Side-eyeing Murakami's routine, all I can say is: "No, thank you!" I was in a military family and then married a submarine officer...and it's fair to say I'm no longer interested in regimented daily routines for myself. 😂 I'm very particular about *how* I do the things I do, but not the order or sheer amount on any particular day. Everything just needs to happen while the kids are at school, or after dinner (or on a weekend when the rest of the family is fishing or something). As far as I am concerned, it's one of the few perks of being in such an uncertain career--that I can structure my time on any given day as I want (and run it differently every day, just because). I never feel better than when I sit down and have the luxury to think, what do I want to work on next?
Having said that, I adore longer-term deadlines to provide an overarching structure to my work! I sign myself up for all kinds of things just so I always have a looming deadline to work toward. I also have a lot of regular critique groups and Zoom meetings that help me keep momentum (a weekly one for MG, three for PBs that are monthly or bi-monthly, and a weekly art group). Those are long-term routine-makers vs. daily things, but they apply enough pressure that I'm always doing *something* on my work list. At least, so far! As you say, I don't expect that to remain static. But for now, it's good enough.
I love hearing about your routine, though! And I love how different creators are in how they work. Of course, it matters that we do it at all more than if we match, but still, there's an understandable desire to know what shapes the work days and ideas of others--esp. those we look up to!
Bravo to Cosmo for his help with the ice--sporting that little plaid coat! 😍 De La Soul and Indigo Girls are solid sing-along choices. Are you a karaoke person? (I should add, I am! Which should be cringe but I'm beyond that now because I just love what I love and life is short.)
Thank you also for reminding me that I wanted to read Big Dreams, Small Fish, too! And looking forward to the Letter Exchange, too.
I'm curious about the details of how you do things, if you're particular about them! And it has taken me a while to embrace longer-term deadlines (especially ones I create myself), so I love that you set up these structures for yourself where you have a deadline to work toward.
Cosmo hates rain, loves snow. Although sometimes the snow we get is taller than he is, and he doesn't love that.
I've never done karaoke! Truth is, I am a TERRIBLE singer. I wish I could sing better! I am so envious of good singers. I love to sing, but am aware enough of myself to know that what comes out of my mouth is nowhere near the correct tune or notes. Or words, even, sometimes. I have thought about taking singing lessons, just to learn how to do it.
Okay, first, because you admitted you love to sing (which is all you need, honestly, for karaoke), I need to address that karaoke is for all singers! If any of us were great we would be, you know, on a stage getting paid (at least in beer), instead of paying the karaoke place to *let* us sing! LOL! But most importantly, like in writing, you don't have to love singing all the songs, nor songs someone else has chosen for you! So, even if you just have like a handful that you rock out to in your writing shed (so jealous of that shed, btw), you're all set! (Sounds like Closer to Fine is a good candidate--for me, I will do Lose Yourself and Time After Time every.single.session, at some point!) Also, now they have where you rent your own small singing room for you and your peeps, so you don't even have to sing in front of any strangers if you don't want! (That's what I'm doing on Sat. night with my fam--belated birthday karaoke with a room we reserved!) Okay, sorry, I just get so excited about how fun it is (to me, admittedly!)
The way I do things...all depends on the thing! I guess the closest I have to a real routine/specific ritual is that at some point every Sunday I put together a checklist of what's coming up the next two weeks based on my Google calendar, and I put that in a draft email to myself with the subject line ONGOING TO DO--DON'T DELETE and I mark that week's items off my list throughout the week at some point; then on Sunday, I do the whole thing again (adding the week after each time to catch longer-term stuff). I try to prioritize the list so the most urgent and/or important are at the top. That drives everything. I check the list a few times a day, but that's super easy since it's in email. I do also post my list and plan to my Accountability group each Sunday (our group's a little over a year old)--but I'm the only person in my group that does it this way, though, the others all have their own schedule/process/etc. so again, just the way I'm rolling, not the way I expect anyone else to find alluring! It's how I also used to do my marketing and communications work--"next two weeks" planning sessions that happened each week. So I guess I just got used to doing things that way.
WAIT HANG ON I'm wrapping my brain around a Lose Yourself/Time After Time back-to-back lineup. Ok. Yes. Ok. Got it.
I love that you think I'm singing in the shed. Cosmo would be like "hey! you! I'M NAPPING HERE."
I do a "week ahead" list in my planner. Two weeks is a good idea, too! And I love how it seems like you came up with this sort of unusual method (a draft email to yourself) but it totally works, so why not? I love hearing about all this stuff.
Ha! You're right...the main (and perhaps only) thing those songs have in common is that I adore belting them out! 😂
It IS a bummer to hear that Cosmo doesn't love shed singing. He looks like he might be a singer, though, if the right song came along. What about a duet, Cosmo? Maybe Who Let the Dogs Out? 😂
I love hearing about all this stuff, too!
This is completely random, but have you read Death Wins a Goldfish? I read it this week and I think you'd adore it, too, if you haven't yet! It's an adult picture-book--epistolary, Death is anthropomorphized, all the good stuff. The storyline is that Death gets a notice from HR that it hasn't taken any days off, and is forced to go on a year-long sabbatical. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Cosmo does sing along when Henry (my oldest, who is at college) is home and playing music. Mostly the flute, but Henry also plays the theremin, which is right in Cosmo's vocal range.
I have requested Death Wins a Goldfish from the library; thanks for the recommendation!
OMG, the theremin! How fun is that? I watched a documentary about those a bunch of years ago--not sure I remember all the particulars but I definitely remember their cool otherworldly sound!
OMG. I have SOOOO tried to have a writing routine and it has eluded me. Now I'm prioritizing my writing my starting the day with 3 Daily Pages - just writing about anything, not necessarily a project. It has helped me establish a routine for other work and to exercise my writing muscles. I agree that no one routine works for everyone. Thanks much.
Writing those three pages first thing has truly changed my life. Not even only from a writing perspective (although I do sometimes work out stories there). There are a lot of truths I have uncovered by writing about them. And starting my day by writing words on paper is a great way to set me on the course for putting more words on paper all day long. Good luck! Maybe you are like me and you actually have more of a writing routine than you even realize?
That’s fascinating… I also find that when I free right, things come out and develop that I wouldn’t have voluntarily tapped into otherwise. I haven’t been able to build that back into my routine (I was doing it in 2022), But I would like to.
I’m reading a book called Thinking on Paper that discusses the concept of using writing to generate and refine ideas instead of coming up with the ideas and then writing about them. I think it will shed light on why unstructured, unprompted writing sessions tend to bring out concepts or thoughts that we didn’t know we had in our heads.
That is ABSOLUTELY how it works for me. I do a lot of drafting longhand, and when I get to a place where I don't know what to write, I start asking myself questions while I'm writing. So it'll shift from the story to "Wait, what should happen here? I like how this is in a fairy tale structure but I want to bring in elements of a mystery, so what would that look like?" or whatever. It's a way for me to tap into my writing intuition.
The most obvious thing it changed for me is that I quit drinking. Every morning I was writing about how I had a headache! I wasn't even drinking that much, but I really think it was the act of writing about it that made me realize it might be the alcohol.
It’s interesting how writing opened up that insight for you! I like the idea of asking yourself questions. I know that I do that a lot when researching articles for clients and doing essays that require research, but I don’t think I do it enough as I am formulating ideas. It would be helpful for making connections.
Even if I don't come up with an answer to the question right then, it clarifies my purpose: what are the questions I want to answer? I also will ask myself those questions when I'm walking and see if I get any ideas. One advantage of walking a dog is you can talk to yourself and everyone thinks you're talking to your dog.
I need to start doing that on some of my daily walks. I usually use the time to make phone calls and do other things (like read Substacks). Maybe once a week I can do a "thinking walk." I keep reading about how long walks are great for creative people, and I'm sure that's the case...I just need to convince myself that it's okay to decouple from "real work" to do it.
I am not anti-portable notepad like Murakami, but I, too, don't jot down...anything. I occasionally remember to open my Notes app on my phone to write something down, but over the years I've come to accept that if an idea is truly good and viable, it will return to me, even if I can't remember it in the moment. I also find that when I reread notes I've jotted down I...can't make sense of what the notes are referring to ("what is cheese plates in bedroom????") or I remembered what I wanted to remember anyway.
My routine is also all over the place, something I am trying to work on for 2023. I'm ADHD, which can often be described as a sort of time-blindness, which means that I either procrastinate until the absolute last minute or I'm so hyperfixated as to let everything else fall by the wayside. I'm usually more on the procrastinating side than the hyperfixated side (unless you count being hyperfixated on the WRONG THING AT THE WRONG TIME), so the most useful piece of information I've found was "Begin before you're ready." And I realized that I can spend HOURS just preparing myself to do a thing, justifying it by saying, "Oh, I need to know this character motivation, oh I need my morning beverage, oh I need to, etc." I don't need to be THIS ready to start something. So I've adopted that as my mantra.
I am SO FASCINATED by this concept of accepting that you'll remember an idea. I know there are ideas that work this way for me, but I also know that I have been falling asleep when an idea came to me, and I thought, "Oh, this is huge and obvious, I'll remember it in the morning" and I never do.
Everyone I know with ADHD, when they were diagnosed, it was like this gift of not only the validation of all of the ways they knew their brain worked, but also this possible owner's manual, so you could say, "all right, I might have a tendency to hyperfixate, or procrastinate, and how do I work with that?" (and then there might be owner's-manual-type tips and tricks out there telling you how you might work with it). Whereas with neurotypical brains we might get more "just commit to buckle down and do it!" and that's not that helpful.
Agree: the good fierce ideas stick with you and come out later organically.
I have always been in awe of Murakami! To be honest, I don't love his writing as much as I feel I should, but his "What I talk about when I Talk about Running" is an absolute favorite! I also struggle with having a consistent writing routine. But, I often think, as long the writing stays consistent, does it matter what the routine looks like? Not sure I believe that entirely. Also, it's so gratifying to be mentioned alongside Mason Currey--he's one of my absolute favorite writers! And, so looking forward to your east-coast letters with Mark!
I haven't read as much of Murakami's fiction as I want to, but I also loved What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and I thought Novelist as a Vocation was really interesting.
In some ways I feel like consistency is overrated, because a lot of inspiration (for me) comes from veering off in directions I hadn't planned on, THOUGH ALSO I know that it's by sitting down every day and doing some writing that the writing gets done. I think it comes down to: I consistently act like a writer. And figuring out what that means has been a process.
I've just requested "Novelist as a Vocation" from my local library! And yes, as you wisely titled your Substack: "Do the work!"
Let me know what you think! He does talk a lot about his routine where it sounds like he's very casual about the fact that he just sits down and writes these amazing novels, but I appreciated that in the end. It took me a minute to get over myself ("oh, sure, it's easy to write if you're Murakami, I guess, what am I supposed to do with advice like 'why not go to Hawaii for eight months and write your novel there'???") but there's a lot that resonated with me as far as, like the title says, approaching writing as a vocation.
Loved that memoir!
I've learned so much from this post! I need to work on my routine - I struggle to write without feeling guilty about it, because there are things I feel I SHOULD be doing, and I feel for me that writing doesn't count as a 'should'.
I know. But I'm new to this, and finding my way!
What's interesting to me is how much of the time I feel guilty for NOT writing. It's one of my top "shoulds."
You'll find your way! And I think a routine should be an ever evolving thing, as we all figure it out.
I like this post Julie! I like your newsletter too! And thanks to my friend above, Elayne, who gifted me a month of your newsletter, I’ll be upgrading to the paid one! Anyway, I thought this post of yours was timely, as I am in the middle of reading The 12 Week Year for Writers. I can’t remember where I came across it, I wasn’t looking for it, but surely it came from one of the many people/things I follow about writing. I’m always, always, looking, trying, failing to stick with a writing routine. Seeing what other people are doing and trying to do it myself. But I love how you said, that you already have a writing routine, it may not be like these others, but it works for you. And really, that is the same thing for me. My writing routine is super, super flexible. Changes on a daily basis, but at the end of the day, I typically get the work done, that I need to and ultimately want to . So maybe, I should stop being hard on myself and take what works for me, when it works for me, and that is that. Quit spending my time on trying to put myself in someone else’s mold of a writing routine! But I don’t quite want to give up on the 12 Week Year yet, as I do think there are some valid things in there, that I want to try my hand at! But this might be it! I’m not going to go down the rabbit hole of routines! I’m going to look at what I do and work from there. So thank you for the validation of my writing routine. Because it is just that. Mine. And it only need work for me!
I have never heard of The 12 Week Year or the 12 Week Year for Writers! That sounds interesting! Let me know how it goes. I like it as a concept to try and play with, see how it goes. I tend to take books like that and see how they actually might work in my real life. Though I do like the idea of trying it straight through once to see how it feels. Like when you make a recipe the way it's written the first few times so you can understand how to improvise. I'm thinking of The Artist's Way, too, which is also 12 weeks, and how that's a long time but not TOO long. You can change a lot of your habits in 12 weeks.
Anyway! Hi Bridgette! Thanks for saying you like my newsletter! And I think that if you're getting the work done at the end of the day, you're already in a great place, and you can play around with different ideas and routines if you want to. I do really like reading about other writer's processes and routines, just in case I'm like "oh! wait! I should run a 10k every afternoon!" (not an actual thing I thought, but I appreciate it).
This made me feel so much better about my own routine. I, too, have a tendency to do the comparison thing and think I’m not measuring up.
Honestly, I only just embraced my inherent status as a writer and put it at the forefront of my routine this year. Before that, it was sporadic and shoved into the margins.
I haven’t quite worked out my routine yet, but so far my days looks like this:
Wake up at 4:30, ready to exercise by 4:50. Done by between 6:00 and 6:20. Make breakfast and pray, do Bible reading and study, take a shower, make a smoothie.
Write from about 9:00 until 10:20.
Rest of the day is for client work, admin work, cleaning, and the like. Also take a mid-afternoon walk and read a book at bedtime.
I would like to increase my writing time, but for now this is what I’m exploring.
That sounds like a good routine! And you can play around with it -- like purposely schedule another writing block in the afternoon and see what happens, or write until 11:00 and see what happens. I think I got stuck on this notion that it has to be fixed, because when you see it written down it seems so immutable. But it's possible that the writer who said that's their routine has a completely different routine now!
Although I do think it's helpful to THINK ABOUT routines, to think about what we want to change and do more of, and how can we fit that into our day.
It is certainly and iterative process. I’m coming to the conclusion that I will need more time for my personal writing, but I’m uncertain how I will be able to fit that in until I have a more steady stream of clients on the business side.
And I think it's fine to wait until you have more clients! Just being aware of your goals helps you reach them (at least, the way I do it -- I'm not much for aggressive goal spreadsheets).
I did some comprehensive 2023 planning and am working in 6-week experimental sprints to see what sticks and what doesn't. I plan to review at the end of those blocks and keep going with the most helpful tactics. :)
I am in awe of this. And should probably do something like it. Right now I have a post-it that says "MORE WORDS" on my monitor, and that is my entire comprehensive 2023 plan. Wait, actually, that's not true. I have some other goals and plans. This is interesting to me! The planning! The planning for the goals, I mean. I have goals, and I have plans, and they don't always align or overlap.
I’m still in the embryonic stage of this kind of planning. I follow a podcast called Redeeming Productivity, and the host has run an end-of-year planning webinar two years in a row, which has been very helpful. He has a framework with a workbook that’s a good guide. I also read the book Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor, which also had some good tactics. Still fleshing out what that looks like for me.
It does take a few days to do this kind of planning, sometimes as long as a week, but it’s worth it. You can keep coming back to it and refining and adjusting as needed throughout the year so that you stay on track. It doesn’t always work out, as that’s the nature of life, but it’s helpful for me to have a roadmap. 
Hey Julie, here's the final link to the Letters post, might want to update the link:
https://howaboutthis.substack.com/p/on-process-and-place-letter-1
Thank you!
Your routine is so similar to mine, I’m also up at 4:30 most days. I work out, get the kids to school, then sit down and write for 2-3 hours. After lunch I do admin stuff. By 2:30 I am done for the day though because the eldest is home from school. And this is only the schedule on m/w/f because my littlest is home with me on t/r. He starts Kindergarten in the fall though and I’m excited to sink into this routine FIVE days a week. :)
Aw, I love that our routines are so similar. One thing I'm thinking about is sort of a mobile routine, or a changeable work block or...whatever it would be called to be flexible in the face of ever-changing outside forces that poke at my routine. How can I prioritize writing enough to get it DONE, even when there are doctor's appointments and sick kids? Or, like, my kids have not had a full week of school since mid-December, from holidays and half days and now two snow days in a row. And how can I have a protective mental box built around my routine so that I can write from a place of "this is what I want and need to do" and not resent the disruptions and also not sabotage myself by making excuses for why I can't do it today.
Julie, this has made me feel so much better! Thank you. I know I need to prioritise by making it THE thing I do, not just ONE of the things. 😀
Well, not necessarily! I mean, there are always going to be other things to do. Like, right this second I COULD be working on the novel I have neglected all week, and instead I'm here in the Substack comments and placing the grocery order for next week (which, believe me, is also important). I think it all comes down to being aware of what you want to work on and what you're actually working on. Have you read Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman? There's a lot of stuff in there that really shifted my perspective about what we spend our time on.
Thanks so much! Just added Burkeman to my list! 😊
Side-eyeing Murakami's routine, all I can say is: "No, thank you!" I was in a military family and then married a submarine officer...and it's fair to say I'm no longer interested in regimented daily routines for myself. 😂 I'm very particular about *how* I do the things I do, but not the order or sheer amount on any particular day. Everything just needs to happen while the kids are at school, or after dinner (or on a weekend when the rest of the family is fishing or something). As far as I am concerned, it's one of the few perks of being in such an uncertain career--that I can structure my time on any given day as I want (and run it differently every day, just because). I never feel better than when I sit down and have the luxury to think, what do I want to work on next?
Having said that, I adore longer-term deadlines to provide an overarching structure to my work! I sign myself up for all kinds of things just so I always have a looming deadline to work toward. I also have a lot of regular critique groups and Zoom meetings that help me keep momentum (a weekly one for MG, three for PBs that are monthly or bi-monthly, and a weekly art group). Those are long-term routine-makers vs. daily things, but they apply enough pressure that I'm always doing *something* on my work list. At least, so far! As you say, I don't expect that to remain static. But for now, it's good enough.
I love hearing about your routine, though! And I love how different creators are in how they work. Of course, it matters that we do it at all more than if we match, but still, there's an understandable desire to know what shapes the work days and ideas of others--esp. those we look up to!
Bravo to Cosmo for his help with the ice--sporting that little plaid coat! 😍 De La Soul and Indigo Girls are solid sing-along choices. Are you a karaoke person? (I should add, I am! Which should be cringe but I'm beyond that now because I just love what I love and life is short.)
Thank you also for reminding me that I wanted to read Big Dreams, Small Fish, too! And looking forward to the Letter Exchange, too.
I'm curious about the details of how you do things, if you're particular about them! And it has taken me a while to embrace longer-term deadlines (especially ones I create myself), so I love that you set up these structures for yourself where you have a deadline to work toward.
Cosmo hates rain, loves snow. Although sometimes the snow we get is taller than he is, and he doesn't love that.
I've never done karaoke! Truth is, I am a TERRIBLE singer. I wish I could sing better! I am so envious of good singers. I love to sing, but am aware enough of myself to know that what comes out of my mouth is nowhere near the correct tune or notes. Or words, even, sometimes. I have thought about taking singing lessons, just to learn how to do it.
Okay, first, because you admitted you love to sing (which is all you need, honestly, for karaoke), I need to address that karaoke is for all singers! If any of us were great we would be, you know, on a stage getting paid (at least in beer), instead of paying the karaoke place to *let* us sing! LOL! But most importantly, like in writing, you don't have to love singing all the songs, nor songs someone else has chosen for you! So, even if you just have like a handful that you rock out to in your writing shed (so jealous of that shed, btw), you're all set! (Sounds like Closer to Fine is a good candidate--for me, I will do Lose Yourself and Time After Time every.single.session, at some point!) Also, now they have where you rent your own small singing room for you and your peeps, so you don't even have to sing in front of any strangers if you don't want! (That's what I'm doing on Sat. night with my fam--belated birthday karaoke with a room we reserved!) Okay, sorry, I just get so excited about how fun it is (to me, admittedly!)
The way I do things...all depends on the thing! I guess the closest I have to a real routine/specific ritual is that at some point every Sunday I put together a checklist of what's coming up the next two weeks based on my Google calendar, and I put that in a draft email to myself with the subject line ONGOING TO DO--DON'T DELETE and I mark that week's items off my list throughout the week at some point; then on Sunday, I do the whole thing again (adding the week after each time to catch longer-term stuff). I try to prioritize the list so the most urgent and/or important are at the top. That drives everything. I check the list a few times a day, but that's super easy since it's in email. I do also post my list and plan to my Accountability group each Sunday (our group's a little over a year old)--but I'm the only person in my group that does it this way, though, the others all have their own schedule/process/etc. so again, just the way I'm rolling, not the way I expect anyone else to find alluring! It's how I also used to do my marketing and communications work--"next two weeks" planning sessions that happened each week. So I guess I just got used to doing things that way.
WAIT HANG ON I'm wrapping my brain around a Lose Yourself/Time After Time back-to-back lineup. Ok. Yes. Ok. Got it.
I love that you think I'm singing in the shed. Cosmo would be like "hey! you! I'M NAPPING HERE."
I do a "week ahead" list in my planner. Two weeks is a good idea, too! And I love how it seems like you came up with this sort of unusual method (a draft email to yourself) but it totally works, so why not? I love hearing about all this stuff.
Ha! You're right...the main (and perhaps only) thing those songs have in common is that I adore belting them out! 😂
It IS a bummer to hear that Cosmo doesn't love shed singing. He looks like he might be a singer, though, if the right song came along. What about a duet, Cosmo? Maybe Who Let the Dogs Out? 😂
I love hearing about all this stuff, too!
This is completely random, but have you read Death Wins a Goldfish? I read it this week and I think you'd adore it, too, if you haven't yet! It's an adult picture-book--epistolary, Death is anthropomorphized, all the good stuff. The storyline is that Death gets a notice from HR that it hasn't taken any days off, and is forced to go on a year-long sabbatical. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Cosmo does sing along when Henry (my oldest, who is at college) is home and playing music. Mostly the flute, but Henry also plays the theremin, which is right in Cosmo's vocal range.
I have requested Death Wins a Goldfish from the library; thanks for the recommendation!
OMG, the theremin! How fun is that? I watched a documentary about those a bunch of years ago--not sure I remember all the particulars but I definitely remember their cool otherworldly sound!
OMG. I have SOOOO tried to have a writing routine and it has eluded me. Now I'm prioritizing my writing my starting the day with 3 Daily Pages - just writing about anything, not necessarily a project. It has helped me establish a routine for other work and to exercise my writing muscles. I agree that no one routine works for everyone. Thanks much.
Writing those three pages first thing has truly changed my life. Not even only from a writing perspective (although I do sometimes work out stories there). There are a lot of truths I have uncovered by writing about them. And starting my day by writing words on paper is a great way to set me on the course for putting more words on paper all day long. Good luck! Maybe you are like me and you actually have more of a writing routine than you even realize?
That’s fascinating… I also find that when I free right, things come out and develop that I wouldn’t have voluntarily tapped into otherwise. I haven’t been able to build that back into my routine (I was doing it in 2022), But I would like to.
I’m reading a book called Thinking on Paper that discusses the concept of using writing to generate and refine ideas instead of coming up with the ideas and then writing about them. I think it will shed light on why unstructured, unprompted writing sessions tend to bring out concepts or thoughts that we didn’t know we had in our heads.
That is ABSOLUTELY how it works for me. I do a lot of drafting longhand, and when I get to a place where I don't know what to write, I start asking myself questions while I'm writing. So it'll shift from the story to "Wait, what should happen here? I like how this is in a fairy tale structure but I want to bring in elements of a mystery, so what would that look like?" or whatever. It's a way for me to tap into my writing intuition.
The most obvious thing it changed for me is that I quit drinking. Every morning I was writing about how I had a headache! I wasn't even drinking that much, but I really think it was the act of writing about it that made me realize it might be the alcohol.
It’s interesting how writing opened up that insight for you! I like the idea of asking yourself questions. I know that I do that a lot when researching articles for clients and doing essays that require research, but I don’t think I do it enough as I am formulating ideas. It would be helpful for making connections.
Even if I don't come up with an answer to the question right then, it clarifies my purpose: what are the questions I want to answer? I also will ask myself those questions when I'm walking and see if I get any ideas. One advantage of walking a dog is you can talk to yourself and everyone thinks you're talking to your dog.
I need to start doing that on some of my daily walks. I usually use the time to make phone calls and do other things (like read Substacks). Maybe once a week I can do a "thinking walk." I keep reading about how long walks are great for creative people, and I'm sure that's the case...I just need to convince myself that it's okay to decouple from "real work" to do it.