Lately I’ve been making major headway with the book. Part of that was nailing down the plot details of the last third of the book—writing it on flashcards, which have been keeping me in line and less likely to go off on silly tangents. But another part of it has been keeping good writing habits—which, surprisingly, aren’t all writing-related, yet they absolutely contribute to my ability to write well. Over the past few weeks, I’ve figured out the things I need to be doing to have that optimal writing environment where both my writing and I can thrive. These are the ten things that I’ve found can make or break my success:
· Have a
neat desk. This is a must for
me. For me, desk clutter leads to brain
clutter. Clearer thoughts are often the
result of having a clearer desk.
· Have a
neat house. If I know the dishes are
dirty, the toilet paper needs to be replenished in the bathroom, or there’s
laundry all over the bedroom floor, I just can’t focus. Basic neatness has to happen before I can
comfortably sit down to write.
· Eat
satisfying foods. Because of my many
food allergies, I have to eat a very restricted diet. Because of this, not everything I eat is
satisfying. I try to eat a mix of things
that are both healthy and satisfying, because if I’m not satisfied, I’m cranky
and hungry and craving bad foods, which leads to me being distracted while
writing.
· Regularly
read a mix of writing-related books and books within my genre. Both of these types of books are helpful as I
continue writing the Emerson series.
· Make
reading in bed the last thing I do before sleeping. Because it’s always a good idea for a writer
to go to bed with words on the brain.
· Get
decent sleep. In order to get up
early on work days to write, I need to be in bed and reading between 10:30 and
11:00 PM, with the book put away and me actively trying to sleep by 11:30 PM. If I don’t stick to this schedule, it makes
mornings difficult and I oversleep, thereby taking away some of that precious
writing time I’ve tried to carve out for myself.
· Wake up
early to have the quietest writing time.
I need quiet when I write.
(“Silence” would actually be a more accurate word.) I greatly prefer to write while alone to
minimize distractions. While yes, I
generally do a few small non-writing-related things upon waking (check last
night’s fantasy baseball progress, pluck my eyebrows, whatever), I make the
priority eating breakfast, guzzling caffeine, and writing as much as I can
before getting into the shower. This
way, no matter what happens the rest of the day, I’ve already made some
progress on the task that’s most important to me.
· Leave
work at work. When I’m at work, I
focus on work. But when I’m not at work,
I need to focus on all the other aspects of my life, including writing. I’m happy to stay late some days to get the
job done, but once I leave work, except in very rare circumstances, I don’t
deal with it again until the next work day.
This helps me focus on the task at hand both at work and at home, and
ensures that there’s not a lot of mixing of my two worlds (Professional Nikki
and Crazy* Writer Nikki never show up in the same place at the same time).
· Hold
myself accountable for writing goals by posting them somewhere visible. There’s a Muse posted hanging above my desk
at home. Tacked to the poster’s frame is
a piece of neon pink paper. On that
paper, I used a thick black Sharpie to write: Write 5,000 words every week!
I can see and read that paper from across the room. It’s a constant reminder to meet my goal.
· Track my
progress. Every week, I write up a
sheet of paper that I fill in as the week goes on. It lists the days of the week, with a space
to fill in how many words I’ve written each day. It includes places to jot my weekly word
total to date as well as my grand total of words to date. It helps me be proud of what I’ve done so far
and focused on what I still need to do that week.
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