My Daily Routine As a Writer
What I do every day.
As a writer, I'm always fascinated by the writing routines of other writers.
I know this feeling is shared by other creative folks. Mason Curry wrote a whole book on habits of famous writers (Daily Rituals: How Artists Work), which I devoured when I read it years ago. It is a mixture of inspiration ("Maybe that habit would work for me?") and fascination ("I could never do that").
After years of struggling to make time for writing, I found that early morning — a #5amwritersclub as its referred to on socials — works best for me. It's not necessarily about the time of day: it's about finding a block of time that works and sticking to that routine.
Writing habits aren't about the writing itself, per se. They're about things you do throughout the day to prepare for writing, both mentally and actual prep work (like research or outlines).
Here are a few things I do every day.
1. Coffee and Wordle
Nothing happens until I've had a cup of coffee. Absolutely nothing. I make a single cup and while I wait for it to brew, I tackle Wordle. I've played this word game every single day since January 2, 2022. I haven't missed a day. I've lost the game, but I haven't missed playing.
I also play Strands and The Mini crossword puzzle — if I have time. It depends on how long Wordle takes me. (And I like a good score in The Mini, which is a timed game, so if I'm not feeling awake enough, I'll skip it).
This morning ritual of coffee and Worlde gives me a chance to wake up before I sit down at my desk. I'll play Wordle on a couch in my living room while I take my first few sips of coffee.
2. Meditation
I used to check social media first thing in the morning. I felt guilty about it; I knew the mindless scrolling wasn't necessary. In the article "How Morning Phone Habits Shape Productivity and Well-Being" published by Fielding Graduate University, Dr. Pam Rutledge writes:
If we launch into the news, email, or social media, we use the cognitive energy from a good night’s sleep without direction or purpose. Once the phone is open, it seems harmless to spend a few minutes scrolling. But it’s easy to get distracted by something negative that impacts our mood.
Now, I spend a few minutes meditating instead. I use the Headspace app and listen to Today's Meditation. I can set it to varying lengths of time, so I've started with a simple 5-minute meditation.
While I listen, I watch nature scenes on YouTube, so that my eyes are focused on something. I like this video from Cat Trumpet (with the sound muted since I'm listening to Headspace).
3. Morning pages
In her book "The Artist's Way," author Julia Cameron talks about morning pages. She advocates for writing a few pages every morning, by hand. It should be free-flowing, stream-of-consciousness work. She writes:
Morning pages will teach you that your mood doesn't really matter. Some of the best creative work gets done on the days when you feel that everything you're doing is just plain junk. The morning pages will teach you to stop judging and just let yourself write.
I free-write my thoughts, ideas, and anything else that comes to mind in a large Moleskine notebook with my favorite pen. I don't set a specific goal; I just write until I feel like I'm done. It's different than a journal because I'm mostly writing about writing or my creative practice. I'll reflect on things I want to write about, or work I've done recently.
I try really hard not to beat myself up, but sometimes it happens. Much as I'd love to have a day without variation (and my creative life would benefit from such a routine), stuff gets in the way. Maybe something comes up with one of my kids and I didn't get the writing time I had planned. I'll vent about this in my morning pages because it's an outlet, though I'll also try to give myself some grace.
Anna Burgess Yang
4. Recap my prior day
After I'm done with my morning pages, I'll recap my prior day in an app called Reflect. Reflect opens up to Daily Notes (though it stores all notes), and I'll create a bullet point list of everything I did: both professionally and personally.
I don't do any traditional journaling. My reflections are a combination of my morning pages and my recap. In my recap, I try to be very matter-of-fact and not get wrapped up in how I felt about a particular event. I just state what happened. This is on purpose, because it's more my own record-keeping.
I can tag activities or people, so I can see patterns or past things I did. For example, if I'm not feeling well, I'll add the tag #sickness. As a self-proclaimed data nerd, I think this information is useful.
It usually only takes me a few minutes to do a recap. Reflect also connects to Readwise, so if I highlight anything in a Kindle book or an online article, it will also sync to the day's notes.
5. Dictate a blog post
Over the past year, I've become really adept at using voice apps to capture my ideas.
I have a never-ending list of things I want to publish, both in my blog and my Substack. Using an app called Cleft, I'll dictate a blog post for about 15 minutes. Cleft then organizes my ramblings into an outline. Dictation offsets some of the slowness of writing, when I feel like I can't write as fast as I think or when I'm trying to fit writing into a specific block of time.
I use Zapier to send the outline from Cleft to Reflect, where I'll then draft the blog post later. But you can also easily copy-paste the outline from Cleft to another app.
I'm constantly adding new ideas to Trello, which is where I plan my content. When I'm ready to dictate, I'll select one of the ideas and start dictating. Separately, I'll organize my dictated posts into a content calendar to publish later.
Dictating isn't part of my morning routine, but it's part of my daily writing habits. By dictating and using Cleft to create an outline, I can focus purely on writing when I sit down to write. I don't have to organize my thoughts in the same writing session.
Tracking my routines with Streaks
I'm intensely motivated by streaks. If I can track the habit in an app and get into a groove, I won't want to break the streak.
The important component (for me) is a visual reminder of my streak. I use an (appropriately named) app called Streaks. Streaks has a widget that shows me how many of my habits I've completed for the day:
If you're trying to form a daily writing habit, I highly recommend tracking your habits in some way. Whether you use an app or a 30-day calendar (like this one from writer Austin Kleon), the visualization will help a lot.
That's not to say everything you try will make sense for your routine. Try different things and see what sticks. If you're finding it hard to maintain a streak, it might not be the right thing for you.
But once you've found a routine that works, you'll find that you look forward to completing it every day.
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