One of the tricks I’ve developed to maintain interest in my writing is to have a few different things on the go at any one time. This means that if I get stuck on one story, then I’ve typically got another one to keep going with. If I don’t fancy writing fiction one morning, I’ve usually got some non-fiction projects to spend my time on.
At the moment I’ve got three major projects to occupy myself with. One is these diary posts. While I typically write these during the evenings (mid-week evenings, if you really wanted to know) I occasionally use a morning here and there to catch up when needed.
I also have a super secret podcast project, which gives me an excuse to write ridiculous nonsense whenever I have a need to do that. Which is more often than not.
Finally, obviously, I have my stories. My usual process is that I (typically) write the first three drafts of each story during my morning shifts. I will then let them sit for a while and tweak them as needed during random late night editing sessions. However, at the moment, I’ve got some stories that just won’t quite work so I’ve been hammering away at multiple drafts of some of those in the morning, while also trying to get some new ideas off the ground.
There are downsides and benefits. The benefit is that I always have something to write when I get up in the morning. The downside is that, despite the discipline of writing [almost] every day, I still don’t have a very discipline approach to what I’m actually writing.
Ah well, it’s not as if I’m earning a living out of this …