Making Writing a Natural Part of Our Day
Although I write every day and have a certain routine for it, I don't think it's the most important thing (I'll come back to that). As my life situation looks right now, with a full-time job, I write after work. Usually after a yoga or strength training session. On weekends, when I'm free, I prefer to sit down at a cafe and write...
I have done quite a lot of blog posts at this point, most of the time I write them on my laptop, but honestly, it can be quite varied from day to day.
I do not write on a daily basis, I believe I am perfectly capable of
doing it if I wanted to, but with so many hobbies I could do instead,
I would rather strike a balance between them all and laze around a
bit too.
Previously I’ve been able to write daily for a whole month with no issues, even twice a day. Even now, despite having a job, I always have some time to write short blog posts like this one.
Early in the year I tried to write more consistently, which despite my best efforts, is something I haven’t quite achieved, but at least I’ve written 4 or more blog posts per month, which is a win in my book—compared to how it went last year.
I could write in the morning, sometimes as soon as I wake up, I have like 20 or so minutes to write something, and then get ready to work. Most of the times, I prefer to stay in bed or do other things, but I’ve done it before.
During my commute to work, I always have 20 or 30 minutes I can use to listen to a podcast and even draft a blog post. It used to be a whole hour before but even half is enough to make some progress. Again, I prefer to just close my eyes for a bit or read some pages on my Kobo, but I could write if I wanted.
Once I am at work, I usually get there early, and I have some dead times where I can just open Notepad++ and write for a bit—like I’m doing while writing this post. Then I email myself the text and do a final edit at home.
On my way back home, the bus takes another hour which I could be using to write, but I prefer to read on my Kobo some more, check my RSS feeds or Mastodon, or game for a bit on my Anbernic handheld.
Once I am finally home, it’s a free for all, I can do whatever one can do at home. Yeah, house chores, gaming, watching some movie or anime, and of course, write. This is the time I dedicate the most to writing something brand new, or complete a draft. Then I commit my work to my repo and it gets published for the world wide web to see!
I think one of the things that has helped me remain consistent is not to worry about being consistent. Maybe I can write daily, but I don’t need to write daily, it isn’t really necessary for me.
Yeah brushing your teeth is something you do everyday—I hope you do it everyday—but I think of writing more like shaving. Such a task has many reasons to do it, sometimes daily, sometimes it can wait, sometimes I want to do it, sometimes I have to do it. Some people have to do it more or less than others, some make a ritual out of it with three passes and shaving cream and traditional safety razors, while others try to just get it done with some soap, a disposable razor, and move on.
It’s not the best analogy ever but I think it gets the point across. I personally enjoy the writing process, but I don’t feel the need to turn it into a daily thing at least right now, but of course, some people like to have a baby-smooth shave every day, and that’s totally awesome!
Just keep writing at your own pace, and while you’re at it, send me your RSS feed and I will do my best to read you!
This is day 82 of #100DaysToOffload
