- Should I write on the computer, or should I write in my note pad?
- Is it better to sit upright at the table, or lounging on my bed?
- Should I listen to music - with or without words? Is classical best? If I listen to words will I want to just sing along or can I block them out and get swept away by the emotion? Or is silence golden?
- Should I write in the morning or in the evening? Some people are night owls, others larks. Which am I? I don't think I've figured it out. It's gone ten now, so maybe that makes me an owl, but I prefer the idea of waking before dawn and writing as the sun comes up...I've never quite managed that though!
- Should I write on a full stomach or is it best to feel empty - nothing weighing on my mind?
- Should I write every day, or for hours at the weekend?
For now however, I just need to write. My creative writing lecturer gave me some good advice last week - "Just write. Don't stop, don't edit, don't re-read. Just keep writing until you've finished and have a full story/article in front of you. Then you can re-read and re-work, but at least you'll have something whole to work from. If you keep stopping to check what you've done, you might never finish it." How true. That will be my habit. Write first, check later.