Sort your Write Out

Your 'office' doesn't have to be inside

For too long I’ve been walking around this town, wondering what if.  Listening to music that used to inspire me and feeling nothing but a lump in my throat and a disappointment in my heart.  Dreaming that one day I’ll make it big, that the obstacles…

And that’s enough of that.

So right now I’m making a stand.  I’m going to stop moaning, I’m going to stop being all ‘artistic’ and I’m just going to write.  And I’ve decided that this blog shall hence forth be helpful!  I shall write posts that you’ll be able want to read.  They’ll be helpful, and they’ll be inspirational.

And I’m going to start with the most destructive force of all for a writer.  The lack of routine.

Routine is not your enemy.  I know it should be.  I know that the romantic vision of a writer has him waking up in the middle of the night, running to the typewriter and working all night.

But those types of writers just don’t exist. .  Lack of sleep makes you tired and irritable, not inspired and creative.

I don’t know about you, but when I wake up, regardless of what the dream I was having was like, I think, “why the hell have I just woken up?”.  Then promptly fall back asleep.

So the best thing you can do is create a routine.  And the best ways to do that are to:

• Clear a space where you can write.  It doesn’t have to be fantastic, but the less distractions the better.  Writing on your laptop whilst it perches on your legs whilst you try and ignore the kids whilst you watch TV whilst you cook the dinner will not lead to anything anywhere near productive.
• Sort a time when you can write.  Set aside an hour a day where, come rain or shine, you sit in front of your notebook, your laptop, your PC and you don’t move until that hour has elapsed.  Even Facebook gets boring eventually, and you’ll have to do some writing.
• Set deadlines.  I’m going to finish this blog, for example, before 13.30.  But what about that play?  I gave myself 3 days.  And low and behold, it was finished in 3 days.  It was naff, and will require lots more work, but I set myself a deadline and stuck to it.

You’ll find if you stick to these three simple rules, writing becomes much less of a chore (although trust me, some days it will feel like one) but at the end you’ll have something that you can be proud of.

The problem with being a writer, and the problem with having a blog about being a writer, is that it’s very difficult to keep a routine.  So I’m going to make sure, that every Thursday, I update this blog.  No one will read it, and no one will care.  But it’ll help me keep a routine.  And it’ll help me sort my write out.

Phil

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