Friday 17 October 2008

Finding a New Routine

I’m having to get into a new routine for my writing. For the best part of eight years I’ve been able to get up and do the bulk of my writing at the beginning of the day. Now I’ve become a regular commuter and have to start my writing much later in the day. I do find it harder to start then, though it is good knowing that I’ve got many of the other tasks out of the way and am free to let my mind concentrate on this.

I always start with my blog. It gets the creative juices flowing. It’s a bit like Julia Cameron’s “morning pages” though I am conscious of a readership. It feels a little like talking to a group of friends as well, so is also the equivalent of meeting round the photocopier at the beginning of a day at school.

It doesn’t matter that I have to now write at a different time of the day. The writing still gets done. There are sabbaticals, holidays and eventual retirement to look forward to. Weekends too, when unfinished writing comes to the top of the to do list. My research day, also, must include six hours’ writing. I just love that! I don’t mind what sort of writing – friction, editing, correcting proofs, academic writing, writerly research. It all counts and it’s all joyous.

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