Writing Routines and Schedules and Processes, Oh My!

Welcome to the section of the blog where the delightful Dirty Discourse writers tell you all about their writing routines, schedules and processes – or lack thereof – in the hopes of helping you find the thing that works for you!

First up we have Calista Jayne!

I’ll be honest—I don’t actually care about other authors’ writing routines. I spent too many of my early writing years worrying about whether or not I was living up to other authors’ standards if I didn’t wake up at 5am and immediately write six thousand words before breakfast.

As you’re reading this, please take only the ideas that are useful to you. Don’t beat yourself up for not doing things the same way someone else does.

Also, different seasons and different eras of my life have required flexibility with the routine. As a parent, summers are wildly different from the rest of the school year. Before authoring was my full-time job, I had to leave room for other tasks. After being diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease, I had to become even more flexible.

Here’s what a typical day might look like:

• I wake up and write in my diary—gratitude, plans, gripes.
• Morning stuff—light exercise, breakfast, supervise kids getting out the door.
• At around 8, I sit down at the computer and open my WIP. I write until about noon, with breaks throughout.
• Noon to 1 is lunch time. I’ll watch something or read.
• Around 1, I’m back to work if I haven’t fallen into a rabbit hole on the internet or picked up an amazing book I can’t put down. I write, edit, or do admin before it’s time to drive kids home from school.
• The rest of the day is a free-for-all. If I was productive in the morning and wrote around 2k words, I’m pretty smug at this point and I do whatever I feel like. If I wrote almost nothing, I’ll try to force it for a bit longer before giving up and doing whatever I feel like.

Sometimes “whatever I feel like” means admin tasks: newsletters, ads, social media, book formatting/uploading, putting together packages for my subscription. And sometimes “whatever I feel like” means watching several episodes of a K-drama or playing Stardew Valley. Dinner with family happens in here.

Remember, this is an idealized version of my routine. I’m often interrupted, or I sometimes have a bad day and only watch YouTube videos of sheep-shearers and stand-up comics. I always want to win the day, but I just as often lose.

I think the real takeaway here is that I’ve figured out a way to put the writing first, before all the other stuff can take over. I’m not always successful, but every morning, I wake up and try.

Calista Jayne is an erotic romance author. She has published over one hundred books under various pen names. She loves nerding out over productivity hacks, plot structure, and grammar.