It’s crazy to think we’ve been team-blogging for two years now! We are so thankful to all of our readers (glad it’s not just our families reading anymore). You all inspire us to stick with our writing routines and we hope we do the same for you.
The best way we could think of to celebrate two years of “helping writers write more,” is to have a followers contest.
THE PRIZE
One follower will win a three-way critique of 25 pages. That means one manuscript critiqued by all three of us here at Routines for Writers!
FYI—it’s always good to know your critiquers (certainly sets expectations) and we all have our favorite kind of books: Stephanie is our Sci-Fi/Fantasy gal who enjoys writing book reviews; Kitty is all about romance and women’s fiction, working towards her MA; Shonna is our resident middle-grade/YA fan and she comes from a technical writing background.
*Helpful note* A little spice or scariness is all right, but if you are going to make us blush, faint, or want to poke our eyes out, just know that we will skim over that part. In other words, you super-spicy or horror writers may want to let someone else win this one.
THE RULES
- You must be a follower—either on our RSS feed (click on the link in the right-hand column, or on the coffee cup for some browsers) or on Twitter: www.twitter.com/routineswriters
- Leave a comment IN THIS POST giving us your best writing routine. You don’t have to be fancy, a simple “write every day” will suffice. We’re always looking for a good tip or a timely reminder.
- Bonus point: If you blog or tweet about our contest, we’ll give you another entry. Leave a SEPARATE comment IN THIS POST to let us know about your bonus point.
*If we’ve been helpful to you on your writer’s quest, please spread the word about our site. Thanks!*
Contest Ends: Friday, Sept 10, 2010 at midnight Pacific time. Winning writer has one week to submit his or her work. The critiques will be kept private; not published on the blog, so you shy folks go ahead and enter.
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19 users responded in this post
I write literary fiction so I may not make you blush, but I could make you yawn. Never mind, it’s fun to get critiques from readers of other genres, because they have a certain brash honesty – and seriously, if I can win you guys over I may have a bestseller
I follow you on Twitter. My favorite writing routine – one I often use when I’m doing paid writing – is to set a timer and turn off all distractions just for that period of time. Works for me.
Yay for critiques! I follow you on both RSS and Twitter.
With two preschoolers and a newborn, my writing routine is much less of a routine and more of a squeeze it in when I can. Hubby is good about letting me work in the evenings when he’s not traveling. So, when he’s home, I usually write from about 7-9 or 10.
But I do try to write SOMETHING every day. Blog post, edits, CWG homework…something.
I tweeted about this contest as well. Hope you guys have lots of fun with your contest. Happy Anniversary!
A friend (who happens to be a very successful writer with two young kids under foot) got me doing this: set a timer for 15 minutes and do not stop writing for any reason during that time. Then set it again. And again. And again.
I write every day. I have a full time job and two young kids so it’s not always easy, but I try to squeeze in time each day. During the week I get up at 5.30 or so so I can squeeze in some time before the kids get up.
Oh. And I tweeted about the contest too…
I follow you through RSS and now through Twitter. I also tweeted about your contest.
My writing tip: since I consider “writing” everything to do with my blog as well as my work-in-progress, to set a weekly list of goals and track them every day. That way I can be fluid according to what family and brain permit, but get the important things moving forward.
I follow you on Twitter.
I must write every day.
Being a bit of a “newbie”, I tend to get discouraged and the lack of self-confidence really holds me back from my writing goals.
I still have doubts and fears, but the longer I am away from my writing, the worse it gets. Hopefully with time and experience, I will be able to push past the lack of self-confidence and get my work out there.
As a recovering journalist, I find there’s no substitute for writing fast. Dr. Wicked’s Write or Die helps me with that. As a budding novelist, there’s no substitute for regular routines. So at 8, 10 and 2 I’m at the keyboard for my (minimum of) 500 words.
I forgot to add that I tweeted about the contest as well.
I try to wake up earlier to write, though I’m not always successful. :]
I’m a blog and twitter follower.
I have one toddler and #2 on the way. So the impending adjustement to 2 kids gives me an unmovable deadline for finishing my first novel.
You know how they say when you leave the hospital with your newborn to “sleep when the baby sleeps”?
Well these days my motto is “Write when the baby sleeps,” at least during the 3 hour nap. I get a lot done during that time! Also getting up before the family and writing for an hour or so gets me into the novel’s world, so when I go back in the afternoon it’s been simmering on the back burner all day. The other thing that gets me rolling is starting my writing session by editing what I wrote during the previous session. Then the story just flows out!
I follow you on RSS. I try to work on my writing every day. Sometimes that may be actual writing or it might be revising. I don’t have a routine, per se, but I do have to find the right piece of music to accompany my day’s work. Without the right music, everything falls apart.
What works for me is habit.
If my subconcious knows I’ll be sitting down, every day at a certain time, it gets to work making stuff up!
I love contests!
I follow you on Twitter as @Righter1 .
My writing routine is the fact I listen to music, cranked up as loud as I can stand it most of the time. It doesn’t really matter what; I’ve been known to go from Mozart to AC/DC, then have John Denver or Frank Sinatra next on my play list. I do like Celtic music and soundtracks, so sometimes I’ll just stick with that.
Of course, it’s helpful to have other distractions kept to a minimum, especially since I’m the mom of a toddler and a newborn. Nap-time is a blessing to a writer-mom! As is a helpful husband who will get the toddler out of the house for a few hours.
Scheduling it. i try to schedule certain days of the week as days that I get writing time. Then it is about staying focused on no more than two projects at once.
CONTEST IS CLOSED! Thanks everyone for entering and for sharing your routines.
AND THE WINNER IS #5 (courtesy of random.org)….kate larkindale
I’ll email you shortly with the directions. Congratulations.
Oh wow!
I won!
That’s so exciting. Thanks so much!
Thanks for entering, everyone! It was great to hear from all of you! And congratulations Kate! We’ll start working on our critiques. Looking forward to it.
Thanks again everyone! Happy Writing to you!
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