What’s My Writing Schedule? How Do I Write?

I am what one would call a “writer.” It’s how I live and pay for what I must pay for. I share this because some of the most common questions I get asked by people who are curious of my work, are, “How do you write? What tips do you have? What is your writing schedule?”

I figure that the best way to respond to questions is through blogs or videos. That way others who may have similar questions can see too.

A little background I feel maybe helpful is that I picked writing as a profession because I like the lifestyle: being in quiet places, no distractions or much external stimuli, opportunities to reflect on life, be creative, and be myself. I figured it’d be a fun way to spend life.

I realized that just like any profession, it’s competitive in regards to you need to produce good stuff or no one will buy it.Knowing this, in order to write my first book, I bought two weeks worth of groceries and went to Palm Desert by myself and wrote all day everyday for two weeks, without internet. I did this two or three times to get through all my drafts before it was submitted for print.

I believe in immersion and compulsive focus as the mode to highest productivity and greatest results. This does NOT mean that I believe productivity is the most important thing in life. Thus, I DO NOT write everyday.

Yesterday I didn’t. Today I’ve marked out to write for at least 8 hours though.

Personally, I will not start writing in a day or night (unless it’s just to write a few minute blog) unless I allocate at least two hours to focus. This is because I think it takes at least forty-five minutes for everything to get warmed up: the fingers to work on the keys. The mind to open. The heart to start flowing. The body to relax and focus on sitting and writing. The rhythm to start building. Then I believe that it’s kind of like a chain-reaction from there. It’s kind of a threshold.

That’s why I believe in immersive writing as a schedule.(Extended periods of work with breaks inbetween.)

I usually time myself too to be sure I am not just being a baby and not wanting to write so I quit early before I break the threshold. I think quitting too early is a big mistake when writing.

My schedule is to work in three hour blocks, where I don’t get up unless I may be going to go to the bathroom on myself. No Facebook, e-mail (and whatever else), until I’ve generated a certain quantity of content I am happy with (sometimes that means going longer than three hours).  Then I will usually stand up, and take a short break (about to do this now) or walk to reset myself. Then I will start again and do that for a whole day and or night.

I ONLY work like this when I have something I am trying to get done, like a book. (This is how I work now on the days I do write)

I believe in immersive writing (with total breaks where I don’t do it at all) because writing is a pretty non-linear activity. You can do anything you want. There’s no rules, order, or standard procedures to follow. And it takes time and consistent practice to work on getting into a non-linear thinking space, because our world is focused linearly.I will write like that for a week or two and then I will take a bit of a break away from the computer and I will kind of do the opposite and do other things I feel like doing or working or perhaps speaking for an event.

I think the most important thing I’ve realized is if you want to do anything adeptly then you must immerse yourself into it. Equally important, I’ve found, is to not burn ourselves out. That is why I don’t write everyday.

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