Writing Without A Routine – Can It Be Done

While I encourage all writers to find and keep to a routine, sometimes this just doesn’t work. This may be because ‘life just gets in the way’ and upheaval has disrupted your usual routine.
Some people just don’t seem to be ‘wired’ that way, or they are unable to get any reliable time to themselves to establish a routine.
Just because you can’t find or keep to an established routine doesn’t mean you can’t be a writer, of course; but how will you do it?
Opportunism and Organisation. Remember these two words. They go hand in hand, to enable you to write when you can’t get a routine together, or prefer to work without one.
(Note that opportunism can mean to take opportunities without regard to consequences or principles. However, I am using the Oxford Dictionary’s second meaning of ‘opportunism’, which is: ‘The seizing of opportunities when they occur’)
OPPORTUNISM:
· Keep alert for opportunities. One friend of mine makes use of waiting times while her children are at sporting and music events, and gets a lot done this way. Another friend sets up his laptop and works on it in the wee hours of the morning if he can’t sleep, or whenever he can snatch a bit of time during the day.
· Excuse yourself from company if you don’t need to be there, and tell them you want to do some writing. Don’t be shy to defend your writing.
· People who have no inclination or desire to write may be quite happy to fritter away the hours with TV or movies; but instead these times could be opportunities for you. If you can concentrate while TV is in the background, and you still have to be in the room (perhaps to supervise dependants), then move away a little so you are less distracted, and carry on.
ORGANISATION:
The key to making use of opportunities is to be ready to write whenever they arise.
At the very least, have a notebook and pen in your handbag or pocket at all times; or if you are a fan of technology, make use of whatever version you have; perhaps your smart-phone or i-pad, or similar. They all have ways of writing onto them which are then stored.
If you take a laptop with you, this could have the work on it. Keep a storage device such as a zip drive with you so you can access your work from a different computer if one is available; then back it up.
If you have a writing project you are working on, but you can’t carry the whole thing around with you all the time, then an outline on a page in your notebook (be that conventional or ‘techie’) may be sufficient. It will act as a prompt for what you could be getting on with, and also make it easier for you to file any notes you make when you get back to your work place, so they don’t get lost.
Keep a small list of other writing projects you want to do as well so that if you can’t work on your main project, you can apply yourself to something else.
Technology is opening up other means of organising yourself too, such as ‘the cloud’, enabling your written work to be stored off your computer, and accessed by devices other than computers. I won’t even pretend to keep up with what you can use technology for.
However, don’t think the humble pen and notebook are past their use-by date. They’re simple to use, easily portable, inexpensive, and less likely to be a target of thieves.
If you aren’t organised, you could waste opportunities needlessly. I know I have, on more occasions than I’d like to admit. So, I’m writing to me as well as you when I leave you with this reminder:
Be Prepared.