Rediscovering Routines

          As you know, I’m endeavoring to get back into the routine of writing regularly after far too long a break. You all are just dying to know how I’m doing, aren’t you? Don’t deny it. I know you are.

          The advantage of growing old is having a lot of experience to draw from. In my case, know I’m a binge and famine type person. I get excited about projects or events and that’s all I think about for a time. Eventually, the excitement fades and something else takes its place. I have half-finished sewing projects, decorating projects, and of course writing projects littered throughout my life. Many are made moot by the passage of time (I doubt my son will ever wear the pants I never finished sewing when he was five) or otherwise discarded. (I forced myself to limit my unfinished-might-do-later projects to one box the last time I moved. Hmmm . . . I really need to do the same in my Writing folder.)

          Over the years I’ve learned moderation and follow-through and many other things that limit and direct my all-or-nothing tendencies. One of the most important is to build new habits slowly. That’s what I’m doing. This summer was filled with activities, like learning to make jelly and preserve garden produce, which pushed writing almost completely out of my schedule. I’m now in the process of re-establishing it as a priority in that schedule.

          I have to do it slowly, though. I could give into my natural inclination and make a plan to write hours every day. If I did that, I might be successful for a week or two. I might even finish a project. Eventually, though I’ll be back to having to set writing aside to catch up on all those activities, chores and people I had to ignore in order to write hours each day. I’ve been in that binge and famine cycle in the past. I don’t want that! I want what I’d successfully established over the years. I want my well-balanced schedule back, the one which included writing as one of several important priorities, the one I had before recent events and people collided with my life and totally disrupted it.

          And I will have it back. I know because I’ve been in this position before. Years ago, when there was little time to write, I carved out a small bit of that time. I guarded that time and didn’t fret about all the rest of the hours and minutes I couldn’t write. That fretting and guilt and angst about not writing drains too much of my energy. I will claim what time I can write and relish it. Soon I will have my well-ordered, balanced schedule back with writing in its proper place.

          What I need to do is re-establish routines. Routines that help me write more.

          I’m doing that. While my life still has several activities that are conspiring to wear me out before I can write each day, I am writing. Not a lot, but something. Every morning I journal for twenty minutes (oops! This morning I had to finish this blog. ) Most evenings I journal again for ten minutes. Each week, I write this blog (and usually have it ready before Monday morning.) This doesn’t seem like much, but it is re-establishing a routine of writing. That is the first most important step.

          On one hand, it’s frustrating considering that not many months ago I was writing two hours each day. On the other hand, though, I’m encouraged. It’s better than I’ve been able to do all summer long. The journaling is revealing blocks and issues I only vaguely suspected needed tending. Even more exciting is the growth of new ideas burgeoning in my mind. Soon I will be back to writing and producing stories. Progress may be slow, but it will be real, substantial and steady.

          What small routine do you need to put in place to revitalize your writing?