The image of a writer getting up in the morning with a cup of coffee and spending the early hours at his or her computer is what most of us imagine. We see Jane Austen at her desk in the vicarage with an ink pen and paper while watching the sun rise from her two-story window. We might imagine Charles Dickens in a gloomy study with candlelight and a glass of sherry. He has his pen in hand and it about to finish a scene.
Or, maybe it’s Stephen King you envision at his laptop, tapping away scene after scene as their flow from his creative mind?
They have different stimuli that enable them to put the words on paper. Some write outlines; others write in circles; others simple sit down and let it flow. For me, I like to write in the morning, but not too early. When I first wake up, my mind is lazy. It’s not ready for the somersault of writing. I need thirty-minutes to an hour . After that, I’m ready to roll. With the coffee drunk and the computer warmed up, my work begins. Sometimes, I’ll take an exercise class before I write. That really wakes me up and gets the old adrenaline going. Either way, once I begin, I can go on for 30 to 40 minutes without interruption. And, then I’m done. I can’t write for 4-6 hours a day. Some writers can, but not me.
When I finish the creative spurt, I can work on editing or writing blog posts or creating tweets.
I must be awake, alert, ready with all functions going. I take off for a short period of time. Then, I’m done. That’s basically what my writer’s day looks like.
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