My writing routine in pictures

I did a fun thing for the Digital Writer’s Festival – I was involved in the Extraordinary Routines event over the weekend. I shared my writing routine though photos on Instagram. While I have often talked about how I write, I thought I’d share the photos of my routine here too!

1) Reading.

The first thing I do when I wake up is read. I read the news online or read the newspaper if I’m out for breakfast. Reading about current issues gives me ideas for writing – and at the least, posts to share on social media.

2) Photographing food.

I am really active on social media between blog posts. And I love food. So I photograph most of my food. My fiancé says I have photo taking face and he mimics me when I do this. I use these on instagram. I used to blog about food a lot more before the focus of my blog narrowed.

3) Tools.

I use Apple products to write. I love that I can write on my phone on the train and when I get home, I can resume that piece of writing on the computer as everything is synced. I mostly write through the notes function that Mac provides. I have hundreds of notes stored – partial and finished blog posts, links to articles, copies of Facebook statuses that could be used for blog posts, to-do lists, reminders, song lyrics…

I write all blog posts in the notes function, and if I am writing for another publication, I will send my writing to my editors in a Word document. I wrote everything on an iPad for a good two and a half years, but that got tiring switching between apps, so I recently bought a new McBook. I also have a notebook for when I just have to get something down (it’s usually at my desk at my day job). My handwriting has gone from perfect to doctors’ scrawl since school.

4) Playing.

I am constantly on the lookout for photo opportunities so I have pictures to use on a blog post. I like quirky and interesting things, and sometimes these pictures are enough to inspire me to write. We had a weekend away and these giant paint brushes and pots were at the hotel we stayed at. I took some photos and I asked my fiancé to take some of me playing, just for fun.

5) Writing in bed.

Most of my writing happens in bed. Not a very good example of OHS, I know. But it’s comfortable for me (for now) and when I am sore, I can still write in comfort. I tend to batch write blog posts – writing several posts at once on the weekend (sometimes over a bottle of wine) so I have blog content for weeks ahead, and so it frees me up to write paid pieces at night. I also write when the inspiration strikes, and I love that it can be done anywhere – on the train, in bed, in front of the TV. I don’t need silence to write, I usually listen to podcasts.

6) Napping in bed.

Writing in bed often (always) leads to napping in bed. Oops. I maintain it’s part of the writing process!

7) Blog post.

I often warm up to writing something big by writing something small. Sending off an email, writing a Facebook status, and writing a 200 word blog post like this one. And then I write the bigger piece, and get into the flow. I love when that happens – seeing the finished product makes me feel so accomplished.

And what about you? What’s your writing routine?