I need routine. I thrive on routine. This is something I’ve known for a long time, but recently I was taken out of my routine for three weeks, and a few things in my life suffered because of it. Mostly my writing, to be honest, but because that is one of the most important aspects of my life, it felt as though my entire life went to shambles while I was out of my routine — naturally, I exaggerate for effect.
Oddly enough, or ironically enough, I love spontaneity, too. Buuuuuut, I kind of “plan” for the spontaneity. Let me explain. For three weeks I was away from home, visiting Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and during that time away I had a few book appearances, so those events were planned into my trip, but I also set aside time in which we could decide what to do in the moment. That kind of spontaneity I love.
I’m not a fan of the spontaneity that is thrust upon me at the drop of the hat and that upsets my normal routine — the daily writing and work routine I’ve set up for myself at home. When I’m in that groove, I like to stay in that groove.
Part of my routine is having a regular writing spot, and I write and thrive best in that room in my house. I did do some writing while I was in Florida, but I noticed that the words didn’t flow so easily, and I felt discombobulated while doing something that normally comes quite naturally for me.
When I travel (which I love to do), I find that I often forget to do the routine things that come very naturally to me at home. When I’m at home, I never forget to do my morning yoga stretches, but when I’m away from home, I forget to do them more often than I like to admit. I’ll remember it later in the day when I’m out and about and wondering why my back is a little tight — duh, I forgot to do my morning stretches because I wasn’t in the place where I normally and routinely do them.
Writing and/or doing something for my writing career is my number one daily routine priority. I MUST do something for it every single day. I don’t feel normal if the day goes by without getting some writing accomplished. A few days during this recent trip, it was difficult for me to write much at all, and I got a little stir crazy. At the start of 2024, I committed myself to writing a haiku every day, so I did manage to write that much at least each day, but there were days where that was the only bit of writing that I did.
I was not happy about that even though I was VERY happy to be traveling and seeing new places and meeting new people. I’m only sorry I waited so long to visit Florida finally! The weather there was so wonderful. Now, as I write this, there are multiple tornadoes happening all around the area, and I even had to go to a shelter here at the writing conference for 20 minutes due to the proximity of one of them! Take me back to Florida, please! Ha ha.
While I was there, though, and out of my routine, the novel I’ve been attempting to write stalled, my weekly blogs (like this one) floundered, I had a hard time getting my column finished on time (and that’s normally a piece of cake for me to write), and emails piled up unread and unanswered.
It’s like my brain doesn’t work in the same way when I’m not in my normal writing spot, writing at my normal time.
This saddens me because I want to travel more and more over the upcoming years, but the main thing I want to do is write. I have to figure out how to incorporate a daily dose of writing into every day of travel.
For me, this requires a dedicated space and some quiet. I don’t write well with noise. I hear there are quality noise-cancelling headphones on the market, so I think I’ll need to look into buying a pair before the next major trip. That way, I can write on an airplane or while my guy is watching TV in a hotel room or anywhere there is distracting noise.
The dedicated space is a much trickier thing to find while traveling. In Florida, we had use of a house (provided by an awesome friend who is reading this right now), so that helped because I could shut myself in the bedroom and write when we were there for more than just time to sleep, but hotel rooms don’t allow for space away from travel partners.
There are writers who say they can write anywhere and who scoff at those of us who prefer (and need) a regular writing spot. I CAN write anywhere, but I PREFER to write at my regular time and in my regular location. I think the quality of the writing that flows from me is much better when I’m writing at home. This particular post, though, I am writing away from home because I’m at my annual writing conference, but since I’m surrounded by other writers, the words are flowing pretty naturally.
There are myriad benefits to having a routine. It leads to a less stressful life, helps a person sleep better, and adds to creativity to name a few. There’s comfort in routine. Routine is like a security blanket or the well-worn Teddy bear I slept with my entire childhood.
I think that even those writers who say they can write anywhere are usually doing that writing in some sort of routine. They go to the same coffee shop to write each day, they write on the morning and evening commute on the train, they write at the same time of day even if they are in different places each day.
While I have a dedicated writing office at home, I, too, can write anywhere in my house. The important thing is that I am at home where I’m comfortable. I may write on the couch, in bed, at another desk downstairs, at the kitchen table, or outside in the fresh air, but I tend to write at roughly the same time each day because my best writing time is late morning and early afternoon. So, when I’m taken out of my routine writing location during the hours in which I prefer to write, the flow of words tends to become a trickle even if I carve out a few hours in the evening.
The evenings were the time I had available to me to do the bulk of my writing while I was away, so my writing suffered simply because my brain couldn’t function at full capacity at that time of day (because I’m getting old, and I need to go to bed!), and it was doubly confused by a writing location that wasn’t home and wasn’t familiar.
Thus, while the trip to Florida was fulfilling on sooooo many levels, it really reinforced something about myself to me — I NEED my routine to be as productive and prolific of a writer as I want to be. I’ll be back at home after this conference, and I plan to stay there for the foreseeable future — I do have a few appearances lined up in May and June, but those will be temporary halts to my routine rather than an extended one.
So, the plan throughout the summer is to complete this next novel. I am going to dive hard into my routine and stay there until the book is finished — or until another amazing travel opportunity presents itself. Ha ha.
Because of the tornadoes flying all around the area and the fact that I’m away from home and have been away for a while, I’m going to wait one more week to share more of the current work in progress with you. I have typed more of it, but I’d like to get more done before I share it.
I’m going to include my most recent column for paying subscribers behind the paywall. If you’re not a paying subscriber yet but would like to be able to read my next book as I write it (or some of my columns and other things I share), please become one today. Thanks.
Until next week.
Tammy Marshall
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