A lot of people ask me: do you write a series of articles on how to create the best writing routine? … Well, no one asks me, I ask myself sometimes, but still, this article will be about what I would recommend.
The cornerstones for me are routine, workflow and tools. Let’s take a look at them in turn.
1. Routines
I always try to write first thing in the morning. No more than 50 minutes straight. Usually just 50 minutes, but never more than 2.5 hours. I enjoy it though, and on rare occasions I can.
I make coffee to go with it, I have a swipe file (database of ideas) to work from, so I don’t have a writer’s blog.
I’ll play one rap song, then synthwave.
None of this is important, of course, but at the same time it is. The more specific the routine you follow, the fewer opportunities you have to “get off track” and the more cues you have to build on your writing habit.
In my case, the following will help to get me in the “writing mood”:
- Coffee,
- Synthwave,
- Open swipe file.
Someone has no routine and starts by staring at a white piece of paper – usually at a random time and place.
If you count yourself in this group, give routines a chance. You’ll see that it won’t let you down.
2. Workflow
Writing is a process. This process has different parts, each with a clear and distinct goal. It’s like building a house (and I’ve built one in my lifetime! [0]).
In writing, I distinguish 4 basic stages of the process, and each one is completely different and has a completely different goal.
Outline (article structure)
Outline comes from research, or from your head if you’re too lazy to do the research.
The better the outline, the better. Wasting time on an outline is an oxymoron. The outline will always help you and often predetermine the quality of the result.
The fact that I spend so little time on them is the biggest weakness in my writing.
Do better!
First Draft
The goal of the first draft is to create a mud in which you can pan for gold in the later parts of the process.
You’ve got an outline, now write what you can think of for each item in it. Nobody’s looking. Feel free to write in lobotomies.
I don’t worry about stylistics, grammar, I don’t speculate on sentences, I just sit down and let the dust follow the carriage!
Turning off autocorrect and allowing yourself to write horribly at this stage is a very valuable skill that many people don’t have.
First edit
The purpose of the first edit is to make at least some people believe that the thing in question was written by a human, not an orangutan.
- Short sentences,
- one thought per paragraph,
- words that humans use in classical speech,
- at least some grammar.
This is also the last stage I do myself. The other phases don’t work for me, mostly because I don’t know Czech, so I’ll throw this part of the article on the head of Magda, who does know Czech, and I’ll start something new from scratch.
Final edit – proofreading
Since I don’t do this phase, I don’t know much about it, however, it has also come to my attention that there is something like:
- commas in sentences,
- czech quotes,
- punctuation (I don’t even know what that is, lol)
- grammatical correctness
A lot of people are really sensitive to these things So even if you’re like me and they’re not your cup of tea, I highly recommend it:
If you want your lyrics to succeed, there is no third option.
Publications
This stage of the process depends on the medium you are publishing on. If you publish like me on WordPress, you won’t miss:
- uploading articles,
- filling out the SEO meta description,
- filling out the ALT attribute for images,
- sending the url to the search console,
- adding keywords to some tracking tool…
The best way to do this is to create some sort of publishing checklist and then always just make sure you check all the boxes.This part of the process is an ideal candidate for outsourcing due to its repetitiveness.
3. Tools
For writing in English I use:
- Notion,
- Obsidian,
- Sometimes Surfer
For writing in English
- that’s what for writing in English +
- Grammarly
- Hemingway editor
Find what works for you. However, certain online tools can make your life a lot easier.
Let them.
Word by Conclusion
Good writing never goes out of style.
However, I enjoy writing them. If you enjoy it too, I believe you will find many positives in this work as well.
Thank you for reading this far I hope some of the tips have inspired you. Let me know what is the most important part of your writing routine?
