Writing Routine

I'm trying to establish a writing routine.

This morning I read a scene in The Ghost Writer, by Philip Roth, where a character who is a famous author describes his writing routine:

"I turn sentences around. That's my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and I turn it around again. Then I have lunch. Then I come back in and write another sentence. Then I have tea and turn the new sentence around. Then I read the two sentences over and turn them both around. Then I lie down on my sofa and think. Then I get up and throw them out and start from the beginning."

OK, so I don't want that routine.

Writers I admire put in 8 hours days of writing. I don't seem to be able to do that. I goof around for a while before I get started. Then, once I start, I can write about 2500 words in one sitting, or one scene, or about two to three hours. But then I trail off. I have a hard time getting started in another scene on the same day.

The good news is that I've started planning other things I'll get done in a day, so I'm not wasting my non-writing hours staring at the screen wishing I were writing, or screwing around on the Internet. I hope it's like working out, that I'll start to be able to do more in a day as I work at it.

Day Count: 4