Finding Your Writing Routine

Do you have a routine to your day? Where does writing fit into that? Is there a ritual you do to get you into the writing mindset? I try to stick to a routine but just when I think I've got one that works my little one decides to change his nap schedule or not take one at all. 

My prime writing time is the middle of the night around one. I'm a night owl at heart. But since our society is not a nocturnal one I have to get up early most mornings and the ones I don't my little one usually wakes me up.

While my husband is as supportive as can be, he struggles to keep the little one out of my hair in the evenings long enough for me to focus. This is our first kid so he is spoiled as can be. What baby wants, baby gets. During the week I babysit my cousin's little girl. She is a one-year-old and may or may not take a nap while I watch her. 

All of this adds up to me not being able to write at one in the morning for a couple of hours without turning into Godzilla or King Kong and terrorizing the people who have to deal with my moodiness on a daily basis. 

So what do I do? I drag my notebook and pen around the house and write in bits and pieces. Two minutes here, five minutes there. And during naptime, my pen flies. I wish I could sit down every day (or night) at a specific time and write for two hours in twenty-five minute intervals and drink hot chocolate while the quiet surrounds me and allows my brain free reign to fill the silence.

But here comes hard cold reality crashing down around me. The baby or babies are screaming, there are no clean dishes, it's dinner time and the food isn't even started and my husband is out of clean underwear. If I waited every day to sit down at a specific time and write, it would NEVER happen.

So I don't. My writing routine is to snatch writing time whenever I can. Whether that's a minute or two while the microwave is defrosting meat or an hour while my baby sleeps, that's when and how I get it done. If I'm lucky I'll get to sit down and do a word sprint online. They are the most productive tool in my toolbox.

So what about you? Is your life picturesque with a quiet office, a hot drink, and endless writing time? Or is it a mess like mine? I'd love to hear about a typical day in your writing life. How do you make time for writing?