Writing Schedule

I get asked all the time what my writing schedule is. Do I have a favorite place to write? Do I write full-time or part-time? How many hours do I devote per day to writing? How many to editing? How many to marketing?

First things first. My brain is buzzing all the time. It gets wrapped up in the what-ifs and starts spinning in circles. The only way I can write is when it’s either tired, or when it’s distracted.

In the first scenario, when it’s tired, I find the best time to write is early in the morning. But that has limits. My brain refuses to function at all unless it’s eaten and had coffee. So, up by 6, breakfast by 7, writing by 8. This sits on my table to remind me.

For the second scenario, my cats often serve as the best distraction, either lying right on my desk or in the window beside me. If they’re not around, guess what? I open Facebook and let it play out in a tab behind my writing. If the wheels in my head start grinding, I flip to see what people are doing for a few minutes until my brain straightens out again.

As for my favorite place to write, because of the distraction thing, I often like to write in restaurants. Not with a laptop, but with a pencil and a pad of paper. Nothing finer, as far as I’m concerned.

How many hours do I devote a day to writing, editing, marketing? I can’t really say. I write and edit until my brain gets too twisted up to do any more. As for marketing, that never really stops, but I don’t like it, so I limit it to just an hour a day at most. On a good day, I’m done with all writerly things by lunch, so I can just be a vegetable the rest of the day or do other things if I still have energy.

I’m a part-timer that writes like a possessed person and then passes out. I’m not entirely sure that’s healthy, but there it is.

So that pretty much sums it up for me. I may add more to it in future days. I’m sure I’ve spoken about it somewhere in the past. One thing to remember is that each writer is different. What works for me, most probably won’t work for many others. And vice versa.