My Current Writing Routine

If you’re a writer, you know that your writing routines and schedule change over time. What works for you today may not work tomorrow. Or you come across an idea in a book about writing, or a friend mentions what she does, and you think, “Hey, I ought to try that.” If the experiment helps, you incorporate that new thing into your writing life.

Last January, Melissa and Dave of Journey Sixty6 hosted an online writing workshop about writing rituals, which got me thinking about how I might make my writing time more creative and more productive. Their idea was to use something sensory, rewarding, specific and repetitive to get your writer brain started every day.

"Coffee related (Free stock photo)" by trophygeek 

is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

My rewarding sensory cue is to bring my tablet and my cup of coffee to a comfy chair where I can see trees and the sky. Then I start my daily writing routine:

1. Copy three quotes or interesting phrases onto small pieces of cardstock and put them in the “Magic Cauldron” (an old metal box with astonishing powers) as inspiration for future poems.
2. Read a poem. At the moment, I’m reading The Best American Poetry 2022, but it could be any book or magazine with poems in it. Alberto Rios always told us to “prime the pump” and he was right - when I’m not reading poetry, I’m not writing poetry either.
3. Attempt to respond to the poem in some way. If I’m still feeling uninspired, I read from a book on the writer’s craft. At the moment, it’s Kennth Koch’s Making Your Own Days.
4. Attempt to write a poem. If I’m still uninspired, I shake up the Magic Cauldron, pick three random quotes and try again.
5. If I still can’t write a poem, I free write for ten minutes or go to my desk to revise something. Generally, at this point, I have generated some text of some sort, and feel pretty good about my morning, but if the Muse was elsewhere, that’s okay too. I’ve enjoyed my coffee and fired up lots of neurons. My soul has been nourished on sky and leaves moving in the wind. 

Nobody can write a good poem every day. Heck, no one can even write a mediocre poem every day. But writing isn’t just about publication. It’s also a spiritual practice.

The important thing is to show up, and listen.

To show up.

So that’s what I do.