Obsessed with this writing routine

Novelist Dawn O’Porter has designed her dream writing room - half vintage shop, half office, she writes wearing a kaftan & her signature thick eyeliner, a stuffed cat & tortoise for company.

Hello writing friends

Landing in your inbox a day late *gestures hand at world* to share some much needed joy.

When Virginia Woolf said a woman must have a room of her own if she is to write fiction, I doubt she had novelist Dawn O’Porter’s writing office in mind.

Novelist, activist, entrepreneur, mother of two and cat lady, O’Porter¹ invested in an office last year when she moved back to London from LA with her actor husband. She is now living the dream, as she told Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd on the Weirdos Bookclub. ‘I’ve done it like a vintage shop’ she said, ‘and the other half is where I write. I do five or six outfit changes a day. It’s the dream.’²

O’Porter describes it as a ‘mad space.’ She’s not joking. She arrives each morning from her cycle commute to greet her stuffed cat. Yes, that’s right. When Lilu, her beloved Siamese cat of 16 years, died in 2020 she realised she couldn’t live productively without a cat. Her solution? To get Lilu freeze dried, stuffed and settled into her new office.³

She plans on recruiting her very much alive tortoise as a colleague this winter so he can take advantage of the warmth. ‘He hears my voice and charges over’ before promptly falling asleep between her feet. Known for her sense of style, O’Porter changes out of her jeans and jumper into her work uniform, which just happens to be a stylish kaftan: ‘I’m full glam, sitting there on my own all day, which I love.’

She treats her writing like a 9-5 job. That’s a long time to focus on writing, so she breaks up the day by changing her outfits, posting on Instagram and snacking. She preps ingredients for her at-desk-lunches. ‘Yesterday I emptied a bag of kale into the air fryer and put slices of tofu on top.’ She is five minutes away from an avocado dip at all times.

While this all sounds like hosting Abigail’s party, it is serious business - O’Porter has built a solid reputation as a novelist and regularly hits the bestseller list with her pacey, funny and downright weird and wonderful novels. While I can’t vouch for the productivity benefits of avocado dip, taxidermy cats or kaftans there is a lot to take from her approach.

5 things to learn from Dawn O’Porter’s writing routine

1. Create a place of productivity. O’Porter based her writing set up around a normal office job. Think of a productive place for you, somewhere you have been able to focus and get the work done. What elements can you apply to your own writing life? For O’Porter it was using the structure of a working day to write 9-5, having a uniform and colleagues - albeit dead and alive pets to gossip with around the water cooler.

2. Take energising breaks. While she calls her outfit changes a form of procrastination, they offer a chance to recharge her energy. Dopamine dressing can lift your spirits but there are other ways to get a hit of motivation. It might be less Instagramable, but emptying the dishwasher gives me a sense of control in a chaotic world and over my work in progress, and I love a kitchen disco, putting on some music⁴ and dancing while the kettle boils.

3. Top up your creative tank. Writing is cognitively demanding, whether you’re working a full day or having shorter sessions, you need to keep your brain fuelled. O’Porter prepares her very own writer’s packed lunch which is more of a 1970s buffet with dips aplenty.

4. Surround yourself with joyful writing triggers. O’Porter deliberately designed her writing space to be full of things she loves. Behind her desk is a wall of framed cat pictures, and of course the open wardrobe,. It might sound very distracting to us, but it is a contained space with everything she needs to get through the writing day. What things do you need to keep you going? Are there any rituals you can build into your writing to help you focus or find joy?

5. Take your writing seriously by investing in it. It might feel selfish to give yourself time and space to write, but you deserve it. It took O’Porter until her 8th book to invest in an office, but she has no regrets about that decision.

“You have a workplace for productivity reasons and for some reason we don’t think we deserve that. As a writer, it's the best investment. Some months it’s really scary because I can't afford the rent still. And it’s like, oh God, what have I done? And yet having that place and how productive it makes me, earns me money in itself because I get more work done.”
Dawn O’Porter

Productivity will look different for all of us, but take time to experiment and figure out what supports your writing, what’s a motivating break or an energy-sapping distraction. In short, do something completely yourself.

A little joy for our American readers: Book giveaway!

If you are in need of some comfort in challenging times, we have a US Edition of Oliver Burkeman’s brilliant new book, Meditations for Mortals to give away to a American-based reader.

All you need to do is share your ideal writing routine on the post below and we’ll pick a winner next week. The UK edition has already been sent.

And if you’d like a sneak peek at Bec’s own office set up, head over to Substack Chat and we’d love you to share yours.

Keep writing - kaftan optional, Bec

1. Dawn O’Porter’s most recent novel is Honeybee. Find out more about her books, newsletter, reading lists for WH Smith, and other creative collaborations on her website. Follow her on Instagram for joyful dressing up, activism and lots more bookish delights.

2. Sara & Cariad's Weirdos Book Club Ep. 56 Honeybee by Dawn O'Porter with Dawn O'Porter

3. Dawn O’Porter I learned so much about life and love from my cat that when she died I had her freeze-dried…

4. Joris Delacroix’s Epoche is my go-to kitchen banger - usually accompanied by the sound of Chris saying, ‘this again?’ Yes, AGAIN!