Best foot forward - establishing a new year writing practice
I’m currently planning my Get Writing workshop for tomorrow and my head is full of proverbs and sayings, which is the theme of the workshop. Best foot forward, swallow the frog, the early bird catches the worm - these are the ones that stand out to me as a writer who is often preoccupied with how to create and maintain a writing practice. I’m particularly obsessed with mornings at the moment. We all know that a good morning routine sets us up for a good day, but it’s hard with two kids to get to school, a huge to do list and an iphone full of distractions. Do I swallow the frog and make those annoying phone calls about tax returns and insurance first thing, or do I sit quietly in the pre-dawn hours, drafting my novel? Maybe both if I get up early enough! But do I want to get up at 5am in January with a virus? Maybe not.
As a writer and a writing coach, I’m fascinated by writers’ routines and by what makes someone effective at achieving their goals. In Monday Motivation we spend a lot of time talking about what works for us and sharing our successes and obstacles. At the beginning of a new year, as well as making a collage to envision the kind of year we’d like to have, I also ask people questions to help them to reflect on what’s gone before and to plan for the future, questions like the ones below:
If I only achieve one thing with my writing in 2024, I want it to be…
Something I want to leave behind in 2023 is…(impostor syndrome anyone?)
Something I want to bring with me is …
Something I want to experiment with is…
At the end of 2024, I’ll be happy if…
In order to reach my goal, I’ll need…
When I’ve been productive in the past, what’s worked for me is…
Something that gets in the way of my productivity is…
In 2024 I will plan for things getting in the way by…
These last two are new ones on my list and I added them this week after my attempts to put my best foot forward last week failed spectactulary. Both of my children and myself contracted a virus which meant all of my dreams of finally having the house to myself were scuppered. My infected tooth also flared up and my accountant was asking annoying questions about my tax return. My positive mental attitude went down the plughole of my steam inhalation baths and I was overwhelmed trying to catch up with essential ‘back to work’ and admin tasks whilst feeling under the weather. This Monday I decided it was time for a reset. Despite a collage that promised that this year I would make more space for me and prioritise wellbeing and writing, the same old things had immediately gotten in the way: children, work, life admin, health. Isn’t this always how it goes?
Instead of grumbling and griping, I decided that the answer is to accept that life will always get in the way and make plans for when this happens. And, in fact, making more space and prioritising my wellbeing is probably the answer. I need wriggle room in my over-scheduled life if there’s going to be space for creative thinking when things get busy. The other answer for me is to constantly reset which is what I did this week and what I do every week on a Monday morning. This week, I carved out some time for some more new year thinking and I started to implement some new habits. So far, this week is going much better.
One of the things I’ve been reflecting on is how I use my mornings. When I answer the question about when I’m most productive, I know that there are a few things that have really worked for me. One is going on writing retreats. Back in the day when my children’s father had them for holidays, I could go away for 5 days and write 30-40,000 words. Sadly, the most I can manage now is a day or two and usually I’m running the retreat so I don’t get much time to myself. (You can book my next one here by the way!) The other thing that really worked for me was during the pandemic when I recognised that if I wanted time to myself it had to before I began work and home schooling. For 6 months, I wrote from 6.30am-7.00am and I wrote 60,000 words of a novel this way. I know it’s the answer. But I’m often tired and unwell and unsure whether forcing myself is the right solution.
I listened this week to a podcast by motivational speaker, Mel Robbins. She has no sympathy with people who don’t want to get up in the morning and recommends a rigorous morning routine - getting straight out of bed (no snooze button), making the bed, high-fiving yourself in the mirror, exercising your body and your mind and then committing 15 minutes to your most important goal BEFORE you switch on your phone. Whether I get up early to write or not, this, I decided, is something I can do in a small way. My exercise has consisted of dancing while I empty the dishwasher and my brain fodder has been Words with Friends and Wordle but still, it’s something. Yes, I feel like a numpty high-fiving my reflection but it did make me laugh and I feel much better for not doom-scrolling in bed. But the revelation? 15 minutes of progress towards my most important goal in a morning - writing - makes me feel amazing. Why not try it? What have you got to lose?
As for my experiment, I’ve recently learned that if I open a folder on Google Drive and press ‘add’ and then the microphone symbol, I can read my writing straight into a new document. I’ve been reciting the contents of my 2023 notebooks into documents and arranging them by theme and I feel fired up about all of the new projects that are emerging. What’s great is that this task doesn’t require huge amounts of creative energy and I can do it in the evening when I’m tired instead of, you guessed it, doom-scrolling again. Win win!
Some of us can create huge swathes of time for writing and some of us have to squeeze it into the gaps. The important thing is to go back to the big vision and that major goal. If you only achieve one thing with your writing in 2024, what do you want it to be? And if it’s important, how are you going to prioritise it?
If you need help, join me in Monday Motivation every week. It’s free to Gold members of The Writers Workshop. You can join here.