🦋 "Irina, what is your writing routine?" A student asked. 🦋

In short: between 9 and 9:30 am on work days and any time in the morning on Sunday.

I prefer to write in the morning because my mind is fresh. But I do not write exclusively in the morning. I can write any time if I have a deadline or if I have a thought that I absolutely have to put down on paper.

How did I come up with this routine? It's easy. I am a creature of schedule. So I looked at my weekly schedule and identified the time that is reliably free. I start teaching at 10 am. I can't start writing immediately after I wake up. And I need some time before my first class. This makes the slot from 9 to 9:30 my window of opportunity.

If you need a writing routine, the trick is not to follow mine, but to come up with your own. Do you think better in the morning or in the evening? When is the time you can be reliably free? Do you need to be alone to write? If so, when is that time in your life?

Sometimes breaking a routine helps too. In summer, I would take my "typewriter" (that's what I call my tablet with a detachable keyboard) and go to write in a cafe in the evening. These times were productive for me too because of the break from the routine.

Do you have a writing routine? How did you find or create it? 🦋