The topic of routines has come up a lot recently during our post-writing discussions at A Very Important Meeting. We all know that writing routines can help us be more consistent with getting words on the page, but often it seems like, as soon as we’ve settled into a groove, the circumstances of our lives change and everything gets upended.
Good Old Routines
The benefit to any routine, and writing routines in particular, is that they eliminate the need for decisions.
Decisions are exhausting: What shoes should I wear today? What to have for breakfast? Whether to scroll through social media for a few more minutes or get to work? We make so many decisions in a day that we don’t even realize we’re making them and every one requires some degree of contemplation, using mental energy that I simply don’t have to spare. Which is why I love my routines.
I get up, I pour a cup of coffee, I sit at my desk and write a page or two in my journal, then I meditate for 15 minutes or so before getting to my writing. That’s my routine. Unless the dogs need walking, or I’m not feeling well, or my daughter needs a ride to school, or my dear neighbor friend invites me a for a morning walk, or…
Disruption
Routines are so easily disrupted. Life is always shifting, making the things we want and need to do feel like Tetris pieces that we’re constantly scrambling to fit together.
When I find myself feeling overwhelmed, I remember a line from an essay by David Mitchell titled “Neglect Everything Else” (published in Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process). He says:
You’ve only got time to be a halfway decent parent, plus one other thing. For me, that one other thing is: I’ve got to be writing.
This resonates with me, as I only began my writing journey after having kids and being a halfway decent parent will always be my top priority. Also like Mitchell, my one other thing is writing.
I’ve Got To Be Writing
When my routines fall apart, I hold onto writing as the one big thing that everything else has to fit in around. I block it out first on my calendar (after soccer games and little league) and then try to find time for everything else.
Often this means my old routines degrade into shambles. I do non-writing things all out of order, or haphazardly throughout the day, or not at all, but I make sure I always write and slowly, new patterns emerge. I try to notice when they do and embrace the new rhythm, solidify it as my new routine. This process takes weeks and then, once I’m good and settled in, life throws another curve ball and the routines fall apart all over again.
But there’s a certain peace in knowing that nothing is permanent. It forces me to prioritize and always keep my writing at the top of the list (right below my family). I roll with the punches and try not to be too hard on myself when everything falls apart. Because it will. Time and again it will.
Through it all, I just keep writing.
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