“What’s your writing routine?”
People often ask authors about their writing routines. This varies from author to author, so it is a question that is worth asking when you chat with one. Besides, we always love to talk about writing!
I found that writing at home can be challenging because there are always things interrupting me. Kids. Pets. Laundry. Dirty dishes. I’m not saying that I never write at home, because I do, and often, but I have found that I am my most productive when I attend one of my Mindful Writers groups.
Mindful Writers
What is Mindful Writers, you might ask?
That’s an excellent question!
Mindful Writers is a group started by the wonderful Madhu Bazaz Wangu. She is an accomplished author who has also released three albums of meditation recordings entitled Meditations for Mindful Writers, Meditations for Mindful Writers II, and Meditations for Mindful Writers III. You can find them on iTunes, Amazon Music, and CDBaby, as well as many other online stores.
We meet at various locations around Pittsburgh and are always in a reserved room where we can shut the door and write in silence. We talk about our writing for the first few minutes, then we silence our phones, turn down the lights, and listen to one of Madhu’s meditation recordings. Afterward, we all write in silence for around four hours (although people sometimes need to leave early). A KEY part of this group is the fact that we aren’t allowed to chat after the meditation ends. This is a firm rule, and we rarely break it. (Although, that time the bank across the street was robbed while we were sitting in front of the enormous window overlooking the crime scene and focusing on our computer screens ended up causing a break in our conversation! We didn’t know anything had happened until the police cars with their sirens blaring arrived!)
Clearing my mind and my environment of distractions this way has had an incredible effect on my productivity.
https://amzn.to/38qsk6I Mindful Writers
https://amzn.to/2UIrqhX Mindful Writers II
https://amzn.to/2UPpAvF Mindful Writers III
Why does this work for me?
One of the things about this group that helps me tremendously is that it is held in locations where we can have FOOD. (Mmm. Food.)
If you’re thinking about starting this sort of group, Panera Bread can work if you can reserve their community room. My favorite place to write is in the community room at Eat N’ Park, a Pittsburgh tradition. If you aren’t familiar with it, think Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant, and you’ll get a general idea of the place. (As you can probably tell by my restaurant references, I’m a midwest girl!)
The reason I love Eat N’ Park is because our amazing waitress, Kathy, keeps our coffee cups (and in my case, my teapot) filled, talks softly when taking our orders, and remembers everyone’s food preferences!
More about the brilliant Madhu Bazaz Wangu
Madhu has also written a number of award-winning books. You can find her author profile here: https://amzn.to/37jZX8T on Amazon. She also runs an online Mindful Writers group via Facebook that you can join from the comfort of your own home! You can find a link to that group via her amazon author profile above.
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