My chaotic brain needs a place to stay.
The dry wooden doors and floors say I must sit quietly. A loud creak from the wooden pews asks me not to move and to watch Him for an hour. And when the creaks go away, He speaks and I listen. Parishioners come and go, and the wood sings throughout the tiny Adoration Chapel. I rest my mind and heart knowing everything will be okay.
During my longhand writing on this post I have my six-month old son in my left arm while my 4 year old son is playing with a rolling bumblebee toy. My younger son is crying for me to stop writing while the other is always running up to me to get my attention. There are writers with children who say to set a specific time to write so your family won’t disturb you.
Another tip writers tell you is to write when everyone goes to sleep or an hour before they wake up. But that hasn’t worked. I’m tired. Once I’m in bed, I sleep so I have energy to take care of my family the next day.
Maybe these two tips will work when my sons are older and more understanding of my need to write. But what do I do in the meantime? Well, since I thrive more in unpredictable settings the best time for me to write is during those few precious seconds in between the chaos.
Writing while using the bathroom is a good place as long as you lock the door. Another is while feeding my older son while holding onto my younger one but the writing doesn’t last long. A few minutes in the car at the school parking lot before dropping off my older son is usually the only place and time to write anything. Finally, I’ll write while cooking dinner although that can get messy.
In the end, these strategies work for me. How about you, especially with young children? What’s your best strategy or strategies? Let me know.
I’m chaotic when it comes to daily tasks, generating ideas, and writing. It’s a constant battle in a world seeking order. My writing strategies are no different. I’ve used many writing tools and techniques throughout the years with successes and failures. Here are some of them.
Writing Tools:
Wooden pencils (Blackwing, Musgrave, Tomo 100, USA Gold, and USA Titanium)
Pens (UniOne, Zebra)
Notebooks (Decomposition, Mead, and Moleskine)
Electronics (Laptops, Smartphones, Typewriters, and Freewrite (ugh!))
Apps (Apple Pages, DeepSeek, iA Writer, LibreOffice, Scrivener, and UpNote)
Writing Strategies:
Longhand writing first before typing (My go-to)
Outlining (With AI, it’s easier)
Pantser (Always have been)
Even though I always prefer writing on paper, the past few years I’ve adopted my writing strategies from writers such as Robert Caro, Scott Scheper, and others and refined my techniques. And it works for me. So, what is my actual writing strategy?
I’ll first write longhand on a notebook (preferably on Decomposition notebooks) with pencil. I can focus solely on writing without any electronic distractions. Then, I’ll type what I’ve written on my laptop (usually on LibreOffice) or phone (UpNote). Writings larger than a blog post (notebook then the WriteFreely app) I’ll print it out, edit and proofread, and type out the final draft before publishing. It sounds simple but the key is consistency.
Is your writing method similar to mine? If not, how do you do your writing? Let me know.