One of the troubles that writers get into is they’ll bounce through the roller coaster of inspiration and motivation.  For a little while the words flow easily, it’s fun to sit down and write, and everything just goes smoothly.  However, without a writing routine, that inspiration and motivation quickly fall away when the first bumps come along.  Soon they’re neglecting their blog, have a half-written book, and before they know it, they haven’t even considered writing in months.

How to Create a Writing Routine

It really is as simple as, “sit down and write.”  However, our brains aren’t really good at following simple instructions without little nudges.  Especially when you’re in the doldrums of writing – that part where you’re part way through the book, you don’t have the dopamine hits from when you first started, and you aren’t close to the dopamine hits that will come when you finish.  At this point, it’s kind of a chore.

That’s when you need to lean into your writing routine.

Clarify Your Purpose

Without a clear purpose, you’re going to be able to make excuses to skip out on writing.  Are you creating a blog to inspire?  Are you writing a book to establish your authority?  Are you creating newsletters to share new information?

Try to get your purpose down to just a few words, and write it down.  We’ll use that purpose later when we build the environment.

Put it On the Schedule

If your writing schedule consists of “whenever I have the time” you’re never going to have the time.  Figure out what time of day gets your creative juices moving the most, and block off enough time to make some headway on your writing project.

Mornings before others wake up or evenings after they go to bed are great distraction free times.  Lunch breaks, afternoons, or even just weekends can all work.  The key is to have a consistent time that’s set on your schedule so you know not to fill it with anything else.

Set Writing Goals

When you don’t have a goal to aim for, you’ll flounder around without hitting anything.  Fortunately, writing goals are pretty easy to establish.  They can be time based or word based.

When you have your writing schedule set up, now you have to hit or exceed your goals.  500 words per day is reasonable.  30 minutes per day is achievable.  Maybe you find that those are too easy, so you double your goals.  Maybe they’re too hard, so you half them.  These little accomplishments will help keep your little dopamine hits coming so you don’t burn out halfway through the project.

Build Your Environment

Try to write in the same place every time you sit to write.  Even if you believe you can zone in on the work, a new environment causes tons of distractions (if I try to work in the airport, I’m almost always about half as productive as when I’m in my office at my desk).

Your environment should be as free of distractions as possible (not like my overly cluttered desk because for some reason I don’t spend 5 minutes per day cleaning it up).  Turn off notifications, set the phone to silent.  Maybe turn on some binaural beats.  Just like you should only spend time in bed when sleeping so your brain associates getting into bed to sleep, you’ll soon associate your dedicated writing environment as the place where creativity flows.

Establish Rituals

Just like that environment builds cues, your rituals will too.  Using the same coffee mug every time you sit to write tells your brain it’s writing time.  Listening to the same pump-me-up song before settling into your writing routine triggers the brain to prep for what’s coming next.

Have you seen the show American Housewife?  Character Greg Otto has a ritual that he must complete before he begins writing – he eats an almond, takes a shot of port, and does a Wonder Woman pose for 60 seconds to get himself into the right mindset.  Not saying you have to do that, but you could do that.

Track Progress

Those writing doldrums are real.  When slogging through a big project, like writing a book, you’re going to have times where you really don’t feel like you’re doing anything.  What’s another 500 words in a sea of 50,000 words?

Keep a calendar nearby that’s dedicated to your writing progress.  Every time you hit your goal (that one you set a few paragraphs up), you put a big old X through the day on that calendar.  You can even scribble in how many words you pounded out that day.  Now you have a little dopamine hit every time you hit that goal, and a visual to show how far you’ve come.

Give Yourself Grace

Perhaps the most important part of your writing routine is to give yourself some grace when you mess up.  Maybe your mental health isn’t doing fantastic and you slough off writing for a couple of weeks.

When you’re ready, pick up that routine and go back to typing again.  Don’t feel bad about not hitting the mark.  Improvise, adapt, overcome!