A Writer's Life: A Regular Writing Romp

One of the ways I’ve been looking to ramp up my writing routine is by scheduling a regular day of writing each month. I’ve started to ensure that I have a weekly blog post going up. I’m focused on carving out a little time each week to devote to my various writing projects. I have even taken to voice recording my thoughts when they come to me so I don’t lose them. However given how busy life can be as a full-time teacher and parent to an energetic just-shy-of-five year old, my reality is that unless I schedule the time, things won’t happen. Which means writing won’t happen. 

To combat this, I discussed with my regular sounding board, aka my friend Priscilla who also spends a lot of her time writing, the idea of having a monthly writing day. The idea was that we would both find a regular day each month where we would agree to meet up — preferably in person, but via Skype if necessary — in order to write. Given she is a busy woman too, this idea worked for both of us and so we compared schedules and found a day each month that appeared that it would work. I promptly blocked it out in my calendar. It was going to be messy - if all went as planned, we would have been in our new home for only one week when that first date rolled around and yet we booked the date in anyway and I invited her to come and stay for the weekend. It immediately became a non-negotiable plan in my mind. I wanted the time to write, and I know from years of experience that when Priscilla and I are together, we get things done. 

That’s the thing about schedules: I don’t tend to like them because, as a school teacher, I feel like my life is set by them constantly. Yet they’re effective, and consequently, they’re a necessity. Our scheduled date drew nearer and Priscilla, dear friend that she is, checked in regularly to ensure I was still happy to host her at the new house. Because yes, we did move house — there were boxes everywhere, my kid was completely unsettled and beyond excited by the chaos of moving, and there are a million things to do at the new place. But given we’d made our date a while ago, I was determined to keep it.  

Despite the craziness that comes with moving, including the stream of visitors dropping in to see the new place (and my excitement at showing it to them!), we managed to carve out for ourselves a solid block of writing time. There was no set space - we literally spread out amongst the boxes on the floor of the room designated to be my office, but writing happened, and it felt wonderful! Just like that, the Regular Writing Romp was born. 

Here’s to many more romps ahead! 

It doesn’t need to be pretty - it just needs to be effective! Writing amidst the chaos of moving house.