Creating a Routine: "God, the Devil, and Divorce" Memoir Writing

Recently the Skagit Valley Writers League featured a talk by A.C. Fuller, podcaster and author of The Anonymous Source, on strategies to write faster and better. One of his strategies is to get up at four in the morning to write while his wife and child are still asleep. Since I view myself as a professional writer, and that's how I often introduce myself, I'm frequently asked about my own routine. I confess I struggle to give a professional-sounding answer. I feel apologetic, even embarrassed, about not having one. How can I call myself a professional? And yet I do and yet I am. 

I have to applaud A.C. for his dedication, but my process is nothing like his. The thing that keeps me writing is not a schedule but a drive to write. But I also have a drive to live a full life outside of writing, a life that doesn't always happen on schedule.

A good portion of that life revolves around my husband. For instance, while he was working as a long-term substitute teacher, I wrote for hours most days. Now that summer is here and he's available to help me with projects in the yard, my writing time is limited. So, instead of writing hours at a stretch, I'll take a fifteen to twenty minute break from physical labor and sit down to rest and write. Fortunately, because I'm often writing in my head, I can jump right back into the story. In fact, sometimes having a break gives me a a little different perspective and I can see ways to improve it when I hit the keyboard.

​I'm very encouraged about the progress of my memoir right now, as well as to the progress of our new raised garden bed. My process may be unorthodox, but I need make no apology.

Blessings,
Linda