This past week, I really tried to come up with some kind of writing routine that would work how I needed it to work.
Turns out… It’s all about intentionality.
Instead of trying to work against my natural night owl tendencies, I decided I would try to carve out some time in my evenings and dedicate it to writing. After writing my post about some of my past writing routines (making a special drink, lighting a candle, etc), I also wanted to try implementing a few of those to see if that helped my brain get into “writing mode” a little better.
It’s almost embarrassing how well it worked.
Maybe I just needed a little bit of accountability. So, whether you realized you were doing that or not, thank you!
My word count goal each day was 500 words, and really, that goal felt easy to hit. Once the words started flowing, they kept coming. I only skipped one day: Friday. But that was in part because I knew I had most of Saturday open and knew that I could make up for it then. (Plus, I had already accomplished quite a bit of writing, so it felt fine to give myself a night off.) Granted, I think it worked so well this week, because I had very minimal plans. I’m not sure it would work as well during a busier week.
However, for the time being, I think I’m going to continue writing in the evenings. As long as it’s working, and continues to work, the night owl wins!
For each writing session, I made myself a London Fog (earl grey tea, frothed creamer, vanilla syrup), lit a candle (Mahogany Teakwood by Bath & Body Works), and sat down to write. By the time I finished my tea, I had already exceeded my word count.
In addition to significantly adding to my second novel, I also wrote two blog posts and finished my short story! I’ve also been starting to prepare for my writing conference this weekend. I’m verbally pitching to three agents, and I’m incredibly nervous. But my pitch is memorized, so now I just need to repeat it over and over to make sure it’s really solid.
If you see me this week, challenge me to recite my pitch to you!
To combat some of these nerves, I’ve also been rereading Veritas. I want to make sure that it’s fresh in my mind, just in case they ask me further questions about it. Not to mention that when you write a novel and then revise it, all the different versions still live in your head. So I wanted to be certain that the most recent version was the one at the forefront of my mind.
A lot of professionals say that you need to write the book you want to read, which is not only a good starting place, but also… You end up reading your book a million times, so it better be a story you want to keep coming back to!
Below is the table I used to keep track of last week’s word count. I’m going to try to include these on my Monday posts.
| Day of the Week | Daily Word Count |
| Monday | 668 (book 2), 550 (short story) |
| Tuesday | 690 (book 2) |
| Wednesday | 722 (book 2) |
| Thursday | 1,060 (book 2), 725 (blog post) |
| Friday | 0 |
| Saturday | 1,266 (book 2) |
| Sunday | 490 (blog post) |
Britnie Jenkins 