Success doesn’t just happen, especially to aspiring authors. Someone has to write the book! Developing a writing routine is so important. That’s the biggest challenge and we ourselves are often the biggest obstacles to our own goals.

How do we stay focused when there are so many Netflix shows to watch instead? How do we barrel through the writer’s block even though it seems like you can’t write a word?

If you’re a writer looking to get published, the way you develop a writing routine will be instrumental to your success. Not only does writing take hard work and discipline—getting published does too. Hybrid publishing companies like Central Park South Publishing are eager to read your writing and jumpstart your career, so it’s more important than ever to figure out the best writing routine for yourself.

Productivity

Any good writing routine focuses first and foremost on productivity. To maximize your own ability, you must capitalize on your specific strengths.

For example, when do you feel most creative and energetic? Is there any free time in your daily schedule that can maximize your creativity?

Build a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. Simply planning a writing routine makes it easier to follow one.

Additionally, by creating both short and long-term schedules, you create concrete goals to work towards. Add a word count goal to this. How many words can you fit into your day, and what does that add up to at the end of the week, the end of the month?

Limiting distractions

Of course, with any writing routine, you have to actually follow it—that means no distractions. Cultivate a writing space and method that helps you to write, not one that blocks your focus. Your time, atmosphere, and even your software are also essential parts of your writing routine.

Time-management methods, such as the Pomodoro method, can be invaluable when writing. It’s a simple technique: work for 25 minutes, rest for 5, repeat. At the end of the fourth cycle, you can take a longer 15 or 20 minute break. The Pomodoro method maximizes focus by breaking work into bite-sized pieces, while also offering your hardworking brain a rest.

Additionally, while we all love a good Word or Google document, word processing software developed specifically for writing novels can be invaluable. These kinds of software typically limit screen distractions and offer more linear organization options. Such programs might completely transform your book and your writing routine.

Lastly, what’s around you is just as important to your writing routine as what’s on your page. Consider whether silence or music (and what genre if so) helps you focus better, or whether working in public or at home is more conducive to your productivity.

Fostering creativity

Last but not least, don’t forget your creativity! Integrate research and idea development into your writing routine. Diversifying your ideas, and challenging yourself to think bigger and better, matters just as much as writing a certain amount of words every day.

A great way to brainstorm is to join a writing community. Talking through your ideas with fellow creatives and aspiring authors will vastly improve your own writing. It’ll also keep you accountable!

Above all, the goal of any writing routine is to make focusing as painless and easy as possible, so that you can do what’s most important: write. The commitment and discipline that you use to develop a writing routine and follow it will show in the quality of your writing. Once you begin to pursue publication, any house—whether traditional or hybrid, like Central Park South Publishing—will take notice.