Friday, August 9, 2024

Do You Have A Writing Pattern?

You may be someone who frequently wonders why your story is going no where fast. You are determined to get that story over the next roadblock but you never seem to be able to get there. A lot of this might stem from not having a writing pattern.

Keeping yourself in a regular pattern and schedule will often be the best way to ensure you can keep up the pace of your writing you wanted. I am someone who really does operate best with a schedule and I also know, when that schedule is blown for any reason, getting back into the rhythm is tough. 

The key is to determine when your brain works best for the type of thinking you need for your writing. For me, creative and critical thinking is best in the morning for me. As the day goes on, I have to shift over to more repetitive and non-thinking activities such as housework, cooking, and outside activities. So, to make sure my work gets done, I get up early pretty much every morning.

Factoring in the needs of the family and your regular work schedule is also key. My family tends to be late sleepers so this works great on the weekends. I can often get a good 2-3 hours of work done before everyone starts coming downstairs. We also have two dogs so figuring out their schedule becomes a factor to get the most out of that critical thinking time. They tend to like to snooze during the day so 9-12ish is great to get that work done. Toward the end of the day, they start to want to move around a lot more. This is also due to the fact that the rest of the family starts moving around a lot more.

Of course, if you have a work schedule that prevents that daily schedule, you can develop a schedule that is more of a weekly schedule. Pack that writing in on those days when you have the most flexibility. During the work, use that time for editing, plotting and researching. Have everything prepped so when you dive into that writing, you are ready to go.

Finally, to make this schedule work requires having a buy in from your family. They need to know that when it is your writing time, they have to hold off with "their issues".

Take some time today to figure out that schedule. You might be shocked at the progress you will now start to make with that current story.

No comments:

Post a Comment