Structure is good. Showing up on a regular basis is good. But sometimes we might need to break routine, suspend our rules to fire up our creativity. I tend to be a bit rigid about my writing schedule and surroundings, but I also find a change can be inspiring. Challenging yourself to write under different circumstances may produce surprising results.
What tools do you need to write? Do you feel you must have a quiet room and a computer? Or are you just as creative with a pen or pencil, writing in a notebook you carry with you? Do you need a quiet sanctuary or do you like the background conversation of a Starbucks? Do you still use a word processor or an old fashioned typewriter? A very special Watermark pen? Do you have a scheduled time to write, or do you write only when you feel inspired? Each writer needs to find what works best, of course.
I find that structure is helpful for me--two hours early in the morning at my desk in a corner dedicated to writing--sitting at my computer, with music playing, stacks of books surrounding me for inspiration, looking out to my back yard where birds flit from the trees to the feeders.
Recently I found myself on an early morning flight to California squeezed between two very large people. I felt the need to complete a chapter I was working on and decided to pull out my laptop and try to concentrate despite the close quarters, bumps, other distractions. Earphones in place, my favorite background music playing, I felt the immediate setting fading away as I entered the world of the mystery I was writing. Amazingly, the hours sped by. I wrote more intensely and for a longer period than I usually do. I had the main tool I needed--my own imagination!
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