Words haunt the dreams of authors, asleep or awake. They are finnicky, sassy, and beautiful. So I want to share a little about how I capture them.

Where:

My favorite place to go, especially when starting a new project, is a cafe. Recently that place has been Peet’s: great coffee and room to wade into the process.

Something about going out to another location shakes up the creative brain cells and helps the words flow more smoothly. It also gives me people to watch and instant gratification in the form of a sweet drink.

When I am low on funds or not prepared to leave the comfort of home, there is the guest bedroom in the back that has a desk and a writing nook. It’s surprisingly cold in comparison to the rest of the house, but its quiet and the nook has two curtained windows and a painting on its three sides, eliminating distractions and encouraging focus.

When:

Morning are the most productive for me: immediately after breakfast while I am still sipping my chai or coffee. This is when the words flow best, when I am fresh and ready. Unfortunately during weekdays, this is usually not a reasonable expectation.

After work, I set a goal to write anything, even a single word. As a teacher, I regularly tell my students than anything is better than a zero, and that applies for my writing as well.

Schdedule:

On Saturdays I write a few thousand words on the most recent project.

Sundays, I spend creating blog posts, sending novel queries, and editing rough drafts.

This careful balance on weekends ensures that I am completing different kinds of work every week and keeps things fresh.

My weekdays are much more fluid. Since I am often exhausted at the end of the day, I pick whatever is going to be the easiest. More often than not, that is whatever novel I am currently toiling through.

Rewards:

Snacks. Snacks. Snacks.

Popcorn and skittles, gummy worms and swedish fish, pretzels and mints, candycorn and crackers.

The Japanese “kuchisabishii” translates roughly to “lonely mouth,” which is the idea that you eat because it is good rather than because you are hungry. And there are few things that make me want to snack more than staring at a screen and hoping for any excuse to procrastinate or let my mind wander.

I often reward myself in other ways as well, like buying a new videogame after completing a new novel. Finding ways to make the process less painful and more encouraging is the goal.

What ways do you find to support your creative pursuits?