Reps and Routines

Six ways I approach my writing practice

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Recently, I’ve been having some pain in my knee when I exercise and it has put me off my usual hiking, cycling and swimming. A week or so ago, I was complaining (well, whining) about this to a friend of mine who was an elite cyclist. She offered to help me address my physical issues. She came over to the gym in my building, assessed me and came up with a suite of exercises to work on my flexibility and strength. They pretty much all focused on my core. ‘It’s nothing too complicated,’ she said, as she took me through the exercises and indicated the number of reps for each one. ‘The idea is to get into a routine of doing them.’

Right. I’m not unused to the idea of reps and routines. I was a serious athlete for a number of years. But you know, you get out of the habit of doing your exercises, and you need somebody to get you on track again. Anyway, thanks to my friend, I’m back in the gym and following the routines she gave me to the letter.

Writing routines

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

In many ways, I find, a writing practice is similar to an exercise practice. There’s a lot of discussion on places like Substack about how much of writing is talent, and how much is repetitive, hard work. My take: talent of course helps, but so much of writing seems to be about the daily grind of working on pieces at word level, at sentence level, and at story level. It’s hard work, and If you don’t adopt routines, well, you’ll just never get anything done. Your motivation will flag, believe me. Routine beats motivation every time.

You’re never going to get fit just by thinking about it or doing one exhausting session. You need to build up a routine, and it’s exactly the same with writing. People who don’t write often imagine that writers sit there staring wistfully into space and waiting for inspiration to strike. The truth is not that sexy; as Pablo Picasso famously said: ‘Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.’

Six ways

Here are six of the things I do repetitively to maintain a writing practice. They’re not intended as pieces of advice; we’re all different, and we all approach writing differently. Nor are they revolutionary. But they may give you an idea or two.

1. Write/edit 2-3 hours a day

I write in the morning, and I don’t write for long hours. 2-3 hours a day is my routine, unless I really get into something, and find that I just can’t stop. But that’s rare. When I’m actually writing a story or my novel, I hardly ever write over a thousand words in a day. I find after that it just starts to get sloppy. I know there are some writers who can write thousands of words a day, but that’s just not me. I never write in the evenings, and in this I’m in quite good company.

‘How great writers write at night, I don’t know, it’s an age since I tried, & I find my head full of pillow stuffing.’ Virginia Woolf

2. Don’t open a blank page

My habit is as much as possible to start with something I’ve already begun, probably something I need to edit before I move on. Of course it’s not always possible, but finishing off the previous days’s writing with a hanging sentence can be helpful.

3. Keep a notebook

I keep a notebook for jotting down ideas. I started writing three pages a day, after reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I wish I could say I keep this up religiously, but I don’t. I write longhand pages whenever I feel like it, just putting down my everyday musings and ideas. I’ve particularly liked doing this ever since I bought myself a beautiful Lamy pen to write with about a year ago. I can’t think why I didn’t go back to writing with a fountain pen years ago. It feels so luxurious.

4. Write in a specific place

I always write in my own office at my desktop. Yes, I’ve got a room of my own. When I go into it, it says ‘writing time’ to me. This is similar to why I go downstairs to the gym in our building for my exercise routine. Forming a habit is important if you want to build a practice, and associating a place with that practice is helpful.

5. Take exercise

I take walks, swim and cycle on a regular basis- as well as doing my reps as per above. I find it really helps me to have new ideas and to let ideas settle.

Don’t forget that reading, walking, and thinking are all just as important as getting words on the page.

6. Read for inspiration

Actually, I read for pleasure, and I always have done. There’s no doubt, though, that reading other writers gives you ideas about techniques. They come from the most unsuspected sources, too. On holiday in January, I was a reading potboiler on the beach, as you do. It was far from being my usual fare. But one technique that the writer used interested me, and I thought it would work really well in my novel. I tried it, and it did.

I’d be interested in hearing about what you do to maintain your writing practice. Is there anything that you’ve found works really well?

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