Over the last few months, my writing routine has been all over the place. I’ve experimented with writing in the evenings, writing in the afternoons, writing in short chunks or in long chunks, writing for three full days or five half days. Finally, I’ve landed on a solid early morning start with about an hour break before I finish up writing at noon.

Of course, this might not be your best writing routine, but it is mine.

For right now.

I seem to find my ideal routine switches up every few months. I get bored and want to try something different. 

Here are 10 things to keep in mind when you’re trying to find your best writing routine.

1) Remember why you are trying to build a writing routine (or improve one that you already have).

Productivity is the name of the game. Whether you’re someone who works full time and wants to make sure you get some writing time each week, or if you write full time and need to keep putting down words to meet a deadline, we all want to make progress on our story each week.

A writing routine allows us to work at a predictable pace, to plan out how we’re actually going to hit a big goal like writing an entire novel, and even to write faster as our brain will connect to cues in the routine and drop into creative mode in anticipation.

At the end of the day, a writing routine will help you hit your big writing goals. Use that to help you feel inspired to show up each day.

2) Set a daily goal.

Before you build your writing routine, know what it is you want to accomplish. I’m a big fan of setting big goals (like writing 10 books in a year), but thinking about it as one solid chunk makes it feel overwhelming. Instead, know what you have to do each day to achieve that (about 2k words a day, if you’re interested.) 

Once you know the daily or weekly goal, figure out what your routine needs to look like to achieve that… For example, if you want to write 10k words a week, but you set aside an hour each Saturday… you’re unlikely to hit that goal. Instead, you could set aside an hour and a half five days a week, and probably succeed.

3) Know what you can control. 

When I set a daily goal for my writing routine, I’m very conscious of the things that I can control and the things that I can’t. And for me, hours with butt in chair is much easier to control than words spewing out of my brain onto the page. For me, I set a goal to write ~6 hours a day (depending on the day). I know that I can carve out and show up for this time. I’m also pretty likely to write at least 7k words and frequently closer to 10k, but sometimes the actual word count is less in my control than I want it to be. So I focus on what I can control instead.

4) Set goals that are easy to hit and surpass!

While I know in my head that I’m likely to write 7k words (and I’d really really be happy with that or even more), I set my actual word count goal at half that.

Why? Because it feels so good to blow that goal out of the water! Everything else is a bonus! And yes, I want 3500 bonus words every day! Imagine writing a book in half the time that you thought it would take!

5) Experiment with what works and what doesn’t

No two writers will have the exact same writing routine: Do you get up right away when your alarm goes off, or hit the Snooze button twice? Tea? Coffee? Breakfast? No breakfast? Even if you’re an early morning writer, the actual routine can vary.

So experiment and see what works.

6) Don’t be afraid to try out of the box routines.

Yes, writing in the early morning works for me. And it works for a lot of people (Hello 5 AM Club!) But it may not work for you.

I’ll share something else, which is that I was nervous to start getting up at 5am because we have a little baby who doesn’t sleep through the night. And I was worried I would be too exhausted to function. Surprise, it actually gives me a boost of energy for the rest of my day!

Another example, although somewhat fictional: I read a book a few months ago where the main character was an author, and she wrote in a closet (and I don’t mean a delightful renovated closet that is actually a writers nook, I mean on the floor, crouched on some shoes, under the dress shirts). Don’t judge a routine before you’ve tried it. Even if you only end up trying it once!

(The closet thing is likely not viable long term, but worth doing once just to say you tried!).

7) Don’t be afraid to mix up something that was working if it isn’t any longer.

There are a lot of benefits to having a writing routine, but one drawback is that it can start to feel a little too routine! Sometimes we need to change things. Us creative types get inspired by things that are new and different. You might find that writing in the closet one day instead of at your desk does wonders for new ideas and perspectives.

8) Don’t be afraid to take a break.

Have a routine for stopping writing too. I shared my writing routine starts at 5am, features an hour break usually around 8am, and stops at noon. That’s a hard stop, by the way. It’s as non-negotiable as the start time. I also take one day off a week. Non-negotiable. I know that if I don’t take these breaks, like if I try to keep writing in the afternoon, I’m going to burn myself out and it will be much harder to write again tomorrow.

Scheduling time for our brains to rest, for us to experience stillness instead of creating-creating-creating all the time, is critical.

9) Make sure the routine is do-able.

If you, like me, have little kids that run around screaming when they get home at 5pm, do not set your writing routine for 5pm. It’s just asking to be frustrated. Or, more likely, to set a routine of abandoning your project on a daily basis to take care of other things.

It might also be that your job ends at 4pm, but often you’re there until 6 or 7 tying up loose ends. There’s no shame in not being able to make your 430 writing date, just recognize that 430 might not be the right time for your writing routine.

10) Plan ahead

Another confession, my husband is a night owl. And he doesn’t seem to need sleep (half his blood volume is caffeine). I do. Every now and then, I get suckered into watching TV until midnight. Not only is it really hard to get up to write at 5am, it’s virtually impossible to have coherent thoughts.

On days when the kids are home, I also plan ahead to set up child care. It’s all about the things we can control: I might not be able to control the running or the squealing, but I can control whether I need to be upstairs monitoring it, or if I can be downstairs with headphones on.

What unique things have you tried while searching for your best writing routine?

As always, I’d love to hear from you. Especially if you have any weird tips or dramatic writing routine stories! Join me over on the Story Coaching Facebook group to share your wildest tips!

Happy Writing!
-Charlotte