My secret for getting into a writing headspace is very simple: black coffee. The flavor, the smell, the heat, I have trained my brain to associate all of it with writing. One sip, and my mind knows it’s time to focus. It works whether I’m sitting in a coffee shop, my kitchen or an airport.
Coffee is a key part of my writing routine. When I was working on my first book, I didn’t have money to buy coffee whenever I wanted. I made a deal with myself so, in order to get coffee, I would go to a coffee shop and write as I drank it. It was a reward for me doing my work, but also motivation to get me out the door early so I arrived right when the shop opened– before the morning rush began. They also had one person tables, which I think is genius. Those were always in high demand.
In different seasons of my life, I have had different writing routines. It’s possible to change them. One is not the right fit for forever, at least not for me. I used to have to assign myself certain hours of the day to write or else I wouldn’t fit it in. Currently, I don’t bother because writing is a priority I have no problem making time for, but that is bound to change again when my life and schedule shift.
By making coffee an anchor in my writing routine, I feel like I hacked the system. It didn’t always work so well, but years into it, all I need is coffee to feel an extreme urge to pick up a pen or grab my computer and start typing. The downside of that is when I decide I don’t want to consume caffeine for a while, it throws me off. I can write without coffee. It’s not my source of energy, however, I miss the routine when I do. I sit there trying to smell something that doesn’t exist, and it serves as an excuse for procrastination more than it should.
It’s amazing how accustomed one becomes with holding a hot beverage every day. Habits are a strong force to be reckoned with, so use them in your favor when it comes to making a writing routine.
This month is a month I’m coffee and tea free– crying a little bit over that– but it’s not an excuse to not get writing done. This week was a week of attempting to begin my book, for me the hardest part seeped in the most pressure. I always rewrite the beginning at least six different ways, so it always seems like a lot of work to get around to writing it when I know I’ll have to redo it… yet the project can’t start until it’s written.
I wrote a version of the beginning– not sure if it’s the winner, but hey– and I did write a chunk of chapter one, but I will admit that most of my writing (for book two of my current series) this week was in random places I picked out of my outline, the parts I’m sure about… because now that I’ve become writing I’m suddenly skeptical and unsure of parts of my outline. I’m sure it will all be resolved when I write from the beginning and let the momentum of the story naturally take its course, but this week was not that week. I wrote 17,000 words (I think the same as I got done last week), just shy of a total word count of 50,000. I’ll admit I was hoping for 20,000 more words written, but that really only happens when I have the momentum of the story going… not this week.
Total word count of my book two so far: 49,083/135,000… over a third of the way through and this is my second week writing (the book not the outline). Not too shabby.
Jules Conrad 