Sep 11Liked by Chris Smith, Breakthroughs & Blocks, Bec Evans
I am quite happy with my own writing routine now but as an academic writer, I do fantasize about having a never-ending research leave with sufficient research fund for me to travel to and stay in archives for long stretches of time. It means I can write and research without distractions from teaching and admin work. But since I do enjoy teaching (though maybe not prepping for teaching) I also fantasize about teaching ONLY from materials that are directly relevant to my research, which allegedly is what Hannah Arendt did and which really, even with my best efforts and with my extremely lucky circumstances, only occasionally happens.
Sep 11Liked by Chris Smith, Bec Evans, Breakthroughs & Blocks
My perfect writing routine is to write anything anywhere regardless of the circumstances. Writers write, right? My fantasy writing setup is five minutes with a notebook and a cup of tea. Write on the bus. Write in a cabin in the woods. Write on top of a mountain. It doesn't matter. The only routine is to write. There will never be a better moment than this to write. Write a word. Write another word. See how they pile up? Keep going.
This reminds me very much to the book of Matthew Dicks: Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life.
He has amazing examples at the beginning of his book in terms of "the perfect moment" which simply does not exist - basically any moment in life and any circumstance is the moment (if you frame it this way).
Sep 11Liked by Bec Evans, Breakthroughs & Blocks, Chris Smith
You made me laugh into my lunchtime mug of tea here (def not earthenware). I’m currently revising, with a deadline, and seem to have hit Peter Elbow’s definition of the final stage of revision, ‘Nausea’ (in his book ‘Writing with Power’). Whether it’s a perfect writing practice is v questionable but today already it’s included changing bed linen, washing, hanging out same etc etc, checking Substack, obviously. I already have your excellent book and Oliver’s first book, also excellent - if I make it to a prize I know Blackwells do free postage to Ireland 🇮🇪 ☺️
Sep 16Liked by Breakthroughs & Blocks, Bec Evans, Chris Smith
My desk has a glass top and steel legs. We brought it with us when we moved here. I was determined to change it. I wanted something completely different. Wood, which is warm to the touch. But now I don't have the mental space to choose a new desk. My life, if I can still call it that, changed. My six-year-old boy died. I'm not a writer, but I have found that writing helps me connect with his memory. Also, I would like to write about him, honouring his short but extraordinary life.
I moved my glass-topped desk in his room. The chair where I sit is white and soft enough, with a high back that holds my head when it needs to rest. Under the chair, there's the baby-blue rug that was his. His smile is captured in the pictures framed and hanging on the wall in front of me. I listen to my "Calming Classical" playlist, but I also hear the fizzing sound of the tablets dissolving in the glass of water. The keyboard beneath my fingers, black and clacking with each press, is a small comfort. The more I hear the click-clack, the more I feel like I'm tidying my thoughts.
This is my writing space. My fantasy one, you ask? Everything would be as it is, even the desk, which seems so irrelevant now. But my son would be here next to me, alive, filling the room with his giggle. His contagious and loud giggle that followed the shhh-shhh-shhh of his yellow rattle, his favourite toy. His presence would inspire me to write about bravery. And about curiosity and playfulness. About love and tenderness. About sweetness and happiness. This is my fantasy writing setup, and fantasy it will remain. But this fantasy is also a reality in my heart, where he is now, making me forever proud of being his mamma.
Sep 15Liked by Breakthroughs & Blocks, Bec Evans, Chris Smith
I already pre-ordered the book - but wanted to join the conversation (no need to include me in the contest!)!
My perfect writing routine is dependent on my morning routine. I would wake up at 6:00AM, take a 45-60 minute spin class, get ready for the day (which includes getting my kids up and onto the school bus). After my kids go to school, I would take a walk, eat breakfast, and put a load of laundry into the laundry machine. Then, I'd make a cup of coffee (Americano) in my favorite SoulCycle mug and go to my at-home office to write. I like to have music playing while writing. I would write for two hours. Once I finish, I put a pen sticker (made by Knockout Print Shop) into my planner and then plan what I will work on for the next day.
Sep 13Liked by Breakthroughs & Blocks, Bec Evans, Chris Smith
My perfect set up would have a bit of a "lived in" feel about it, not too sparse but less cluttered than my current one. I'd like to have other people around getting on with their "thing" alongside me (writing or something else) but with a telepathic understanding of when we'd like to break and have a re-energising chat.
Free-writing, by hand is most likely to get me into a writing flow, with the ultimate mental "setup" being one where I can write with ease and clarity.
Sep 12Liked by Chris Smith, Breakthroughs & Blocks, Bec Evans
I have a happy place in mind: a bookshop with art, writing materials and comfortable places to sit and gather people together in the (large) front room and a “room behind the shop” for writing in. This is a cosy place with a fantastic view and plenty of light from full-height French doors, a desk and two armchairs (by a roaring fire in the winter time). So I alternate between writing and thinking, and a more public persona as host for thoughtful gatherings in the bookshop next door (oh, and I’ll have staff to cover most of the shifts so I can choose when I want to be alone and when I want company). After all, this is a fantasy…
Sep 12·edited Sep 12Liked by Bec Evans, Breakthroughs & Blocks, Chris Smith
For my writing (or any creative endeavour for that matter), I have always dreamt of a room, in the middle of a huge garden surrounded by a beautiful view of the sunrise, nature and the sound of nature-birds especially. The room would have at least two huge glass windows, like a greenhouse, my desk facing nature.
A laptop and lots of notebooks, coloured pencils and pens. Walls would have cute images, postcards, quotes and vision boards to inspire and stimulate my creativity.
Coffee of course in a beautiful handmade mug.
I'd have a sofa with cats lazying around on it.
Having said all that, I would write every morning maybe 2 or 3 hours. Showing up on the page no matter what and let's get on woth it. Be open, gentle and see what's happening.
Sep 11Liked by Breakthroughs & Blocks, Bec Evans, Chris Smith
My perfect writing routine - with a coffee, every day, in my office with the words flowing freely and fluently. Definitely surrounded by my cats, though they don't have a good track record at helping with the process.
Sep 19Liked by Breakthroughs & Blocks, Bec Evans, Chris Smith
I dream of a routine that would be above all consistent and feel good. I have reached the consistency list days, but feeling good is a gamble. I have written in a lot of places, just because I have decided to show up. But I do dream it'd feel better most of the times while writing. At times writing feels great, other times not so. Afterwards I often do feel magnificent for having done it.
Sep 17Liked by Chris Smith, Bec Evans, Breakthroughs & Blocks
My fantasy set-up is a table in the shade of a fig tree in the garden of an isolated stone house in Turkey by the Aegean sea. At this table, on which is a notebook, my laptop and a glass of fresh mint tea, I write in a soft breeze with creative ease for several hours, only stopping at sunset when the man I love appears in the garden with a gentle smile. Not one of these things exists or happens (except, occasionally a table in Turkey). I live in hope.
Sep 13Liked by Chris Smith, Bec Evans, Breakthroughs & Blocks
For me there has to be unlined paper, both a HB and a 2B pencil - and a sharpener - a table and a chair. It can be silent or noisy but if it’s noisy it must be noisy enough for speech to be indistinct. Need to have some time - 30 mins min, but not too much, 90 mins max.
Coffee, tea or water must be on hand, but if it goes well I’ll forget they are there.
Ideally I will arrive at this table shortly after having slept and without talking to anyone since waking. What might have happened before picking up the 2B pencil (HB comes into its own later) is that I will have read 2 or 3 pages of really good writing. Topic will be unrelated to what I’m going to write - just good writing to inspire the pencil to do its best.
Sep 12Liked by Bec Evans, Breakthroughs & Blocks, Chris Smith
I think the B&B sprints have helped me to identify that my writing routine aligns with the seasons. During the summer I would get up early and take my coffee outside, using Notes on my phone (instead of laptop) to write. Something about the birdsong and promise of a fresh, new day helped me develop a habit that lasted months. I favour lunchtime or late afternoon writing in Spring and Autumn. I usually write on my laptop but rotate rooms, sometimes sitting in the comfy armchair in my office and sometimes sitting at the kitchen breakfast bar. I’m a night owl in winter, writing at my desk by soft lights (a lamp, fairy lights and sometimes candles) after 8pm.
I am quite happy with my own writing routine now but as an academic writer, I do fantasize about having a never-ending research leave with sufficient research fund for me to travel to and stay in archives for long stretches of time. It means I can write and research without distractions from teaching and admin work. But since I do enjoy teaching (though maybe not prepping for teaching) I also fantasize about teaching ONLY from materials that are directly relevant to my research, which allegedly is what Hannah Arendt did and which really, even with my best efforts and with my extremely lucky circumstances, only occasionally happens.
My perfect writing routine is to write anything anywhere regardless of the circumstances. Writers write, right? My fantasy writing setup is five minutes with a notebook and a cup of tea. Write on the bus. Write in a cabin in the woods. Write on top of a mountain. It doesn't matter. The only routine is to write. There will never be a better moment than this to write. Write a word. Write another word. See how they pile up? Keep going.
On top of a Mountain must be amazing !
This reminds me very much to the book of Matthew Dicks: Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life.
He has amazing examples at the beginning of his book in terms of "the perfect moment" which simply does not exist - basically any moment in life and any circumstance is the moment (if you frame it this way).
You made me laugh into my lunchtime mug of tea here (def not earthenware). I’m currently revising, with a deadline, and seem to have hit Peter Elbow’s definition of the final stage of revision, ‘Nausea’ (in his book ‘Writing with Power’). Whether it’s a perfect writing practice is v questionable but today already it’s included changing bed linen, washing, hanging out same etc etc, checking Substack, obviously. I already have your excellent book and Oliver’s first book, also excellent - if I make it to a prize I know Blackwells do free postage to Ireland 🇮🇪 ☺️
My desk has a glass top and steel legs. We brought it with us when we moved here. I was determined to change it. I wanted something completely different. Wood, which is warm to the touch. But now I don't have the mental space to choose a new desk. My life, if I can still call it that, changed. My six-year-old boy died. I'm not a writer, but I have found that writing helps me connect with his memory. Also, I would like to write about him, honouring his short but extraordinary life.
I moved my glass-topped desk in his room. The chair where I sit is white and soft enough, with a high back that holds my head when it needs to rest. Under the chair, there's the baby-blue rug that was his. His smile is captured in the pictures framed and hanging on the wall in front of me. I listen to my "Calming Classical" playlist, but I also hear the fizzing sound of the tablets dissolving in the glass of water. The keyboard beneath my fingers, black and clacking with each press, is a small comfort. The more I hear the click-clack, the more I feel like I'm tidying my thoughts.
This is my writing space. My fantasy one, you ask? Everything would be as it is, even the desk, which seems so irrelevant now. But my son would be here next to me, alive, filling the room with his giggle. His contagious and loud giggle that followed the shhh-shhh-shhh of his yellow rattle, his favourite toy. His presence would inspire me to write about bravery. And about curiosity and playfulness. About love and tenderness. About sweetness and happiness. This is my fantasy writing setup, and fantasy it will remain. But this fantasy is also a reality in my heart, where he is now, making me forever proud of being his mamma.
I already pre-ordered the book - but wanted to join the conversation (no need to include me in the contest!)!
My perfect writing routine is dependent on my morning routine. I would wake up at 6:00AM, take a 45-60 minute spin class, get ready for the day (which includes getting my kids up and onto the school bus). After my kids go to school, I would take a walk, eat breakfast, and put a load of laundry into the laundry machine. Then, I'd make a cup of coffee (Americano) in my favorite SoulCycle mug and go to my at-home office to write. I like to have music playing while writing. I would write for two hours. Once I finish, I put a pen sticker (made by Knockout Print Shop) into my planner and then plan what I will work on for the next day.
My perfect set up would have a bit of a "lived in" feel about it, not too sparse but less cluttered than my current one. I'd like to have other people around getting on with their "thing" alongside me (writing or something else) but with a telepathic understanding of when we'd like to break and have a re-energising chat.
Free-writing, by hand is most likely to get me into a writing flow, with the ultimate mental "setup" being one where I can write with ease and clarity.
I have a happy place in mind: a bookshop with art, writing materials and comfortable places to sit and gather people together in the (large) front room and a “room behind the shop” for writing in. This is a cosy place with a fantastic view and plenty of light from full-height French doors, a desk and two armchairs (by a roaring fire in the winter time). So I alternate between writing and thinking, and a more public persona as host for thoughtful gatherings in the bookshop next door (oh, and I’ll have staff to cover most of the shifts so I can choose when I want to be alone and when I want company). After all, this is a fantasy…
For my writing (or any creative endeavour for that matter), I have always dreamt of a room, in the middle of a huge garden surrounded by a beautiful view of the sunrise, nature and the sound of nature-birds especially. The room would have at least two huge glass windows, like a greenhouse, my desk facing nature.
A laptop and lots of notebooks, coloured pencils and pens. Walls would have cute images, postcards, quotes and vision boards to inspire and stimulate my creativity.
Coffee of course in a beautiful handmade mug.
I'd have a sofa with cats lazying around on it.
Having said all that, I would write every morning maybe 2 or 3 hours. Showing up on the page no matter what and let's get on woth it. Be open, gentle and see what's happening.
My perfect writing routine - with a coffee, every day, in my office with the words flowing freely and fluently. Definitely surrounded by my cats, though they don't have a good track record at helping with the process.
😻
I dream of a routine that would be above all consistent and feel good. I have reached the consistency list days, but feeling good is a gamble. I have written in a lot of places, just because I have decided to show up. But I do dream it'd feel better most of the times while writing. At times writing feels great, other times not so. Afterwards I often do feel magnificent for having done it.
My fantasy set-up is a table in the shade of a fig tree in the garden of an isolated stone house in Turkey by the Aegean sea. At this table, on which is a notebook, my laptop and a glass of fresh mint tea, I write in a soft breeze with creative ease for several hours, only stopping at sunset when the man I love appears in the garden with a gentle smile. Not one of these things exists or happens (except, occasionally a table in Turkey). I live in hope.
For me there has to be unlined paper, both a HB and a 2B pencil - and a sharpener - a table and a chair. It can be silent or noisy but if it’s noisy it must be noisy enough for speech to be indistinct. Need to have some time - 30 mins min, but not too much, 90 mins max.
Coffee, tea or water must be on hand, but if it goes well I’ll forget they are there.
Ideally I will arrive at this table shortly after having slept and without talking to anyone since waking. What might have happened before picking up the 2B pencil (HB comes into its own later) is that I will have read 2 or 3 pages of really good writing. Topic will be unrelated to what I’m going to write - just good writing to inspire the pencil to do its best.
I think the B&B sprints have helped me to identify that my writing routine aligns with the seasons. During the summer I would get up early and take my coffee outside, using Notes on my phone (instead of laptop) to write. Something about the birdsong and promise of a fresh, new day helped me develop a habit that lasted months. I favour lunchtime or late afternoon writing in Spring and Autumn. I usually write on my laptop but rotate rooms, sometimes sitting in the comfy armchair in my office and sometimes sitting at the kitchen breakfast bar. I’m a night owl in winter, writing at my desk by soft lights (a lamp, fairy lights and sometimes candles) after 8pm.