Write when you feel like it but have dedicated writing time, too #WriterWednesday #AuthorToolboxHop #AmWriting #WritingTips
[image error]I treat writing like a job. I get up every morning – preferably at 6 a.m. – and write. I write until the dog can’t hold it anymore (somewhere around 9 a.m.). By then, I usually have my obligatory daily chapter written. That’s my writing time – the dark hours of the morning before the world wakes up (although the jerks next door like to start trimming the weeds in the parking lot before 8 a.m. in the summer months. Lawnmowers I can barely handle, but weedwackers? That sound wants me to start screaming while I throw things about.)
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A small selection of my notebooks
But sometimes I come up with an idea while it’s not my writing time. That’s what my notebooks are for. I’ve got tons of them. Seriously, I can’t walk past a stationary store. I buy them everywhere I travel as souvenirs. Of course, I can’t seem to make myself use the pretty ones, so then I have to buy more. “Hi! My name is Dena, and I’m addicted to buying notebooks.”
And if I’m not near a notebook? Then, I make a note in my phone. When I’m driving the car or walking the dog, I dictate a memo. The other doggy mommies and daddies think I’m weird. Luckily, the local newspaper did an exposé on my writing last year and now they just think I’m the eccentric foreign writer woman. (Score!)
That’s great and all, but there are times when writing an idea down is not enough. Those moments – usually while you’re trying to sleep or taking a shower – when your muse not only sends you an idea but an entire chapter. When I first started writing, I’d ignore those moments. Well, not entirely. I’d write the idea down in a notebook and then go back to whatever I was doing. Of course, by the time I actually got around to writing the chapter my muse handed me on a silver platter, it wasn’t nearly as funny/witty/suspenseful/{fill in adjective here} as when I first heard it – which was more than a little frustrating. What to do?
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The Muses ~ By Anonymous – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=614766
Now, writing takes priority. If I come up with witty dialogue while showering, that’s it for the shower. You’ll find me behind my computer typing away wrapped in a towel. (Note to self: Buy a robe.) And on the occasions when my muse thinks sleep is for the dead? Okay, mostly I tell her to take a hike and turn over and try to continue sleeping. She’s a stubborn muse, though. She won’t let me go back to sleep often. When she’s particularly persistent, I force myself out of bed and into my writing den. (I’m writing this at 7 a.m. after having already finished today’s chapter.)
What’s my point? This. It’s important to have dedicated time to write most days of the week. But don’t ignore your muse. If she’s whispering into your ear at another time (probably inconvenient because that’s how muses work), listen to her and go write that chapter or blog post or poem or song or whatever.
~ Happy writing
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This blog post is part of the #AuthorToolboxBlogHop. This is a monthly blog hop hosted by @raimeygallant. Make sure to stop by the other author blog posts in this month’s blog hop to fill up your author toolbox!
