Want to get more writing done? Here's how

Behind the Scenes #9 Here’s my writing routine - how I keep myself productive and get into flow

Hi there,

For those of you new to Wild Writing with Sanjida, welcome! I’m an award-winning writer and I write about writing, wildlife and wilderness. This is a free post, so please feel free to read and share it. If you’d like to read my Wilderness book, or my essays on the craft of writing, such as How to plot, or How to create compelling characters, do please consider subscribing.

I love reading about successful people’s routines and, in particular, writer’s routines.

Ernest Hemingway, for instance, wrote in the morning, waiting until at least lunchtime for his first drink; Haruki Murakami, by contrast, gets up at 4 am, writes for 6 hours and then runs 6 miles.

Sanjida O’Connell © Sanjida O’Connell & Jana Rumley

I thought I’d share my writing routine with you. What I prioritise is creating a flow state, making sure I fuel my body properly and get enough exercise to keep me sane, as well as fitting in looking after my family.

I work for the

Royal Literary Fund

for two days a week, lead writing workshops, send this newsletter out to you, manage our Airbnb and run a mini conservation project, Wild Pinebeck, which I write about here on my Substack.

So as a result, I only have 2-3 writing days a week and I’m as protective of that time as I possibly can be.

Of course, with the best will in the world, these days can be scuppered - such as when the path leading to our house (we’re not on a road) flooded, which I wrote about here, or the time a tree fell across the path on my way to the school run, or the emergency trips to the vets…

This is my writing routine:

5.30 am Get up and into my workout kit. My husband, Jaimie, and I take it in turns to take our dog, Connor, out for a wee and let the chickens out of their coop and into Willow Field.

I make a green tea and while it brews, I do a quick stretch and eat something small, like a date or a couple of prunes.

6 - 7 am Tracy Anderson workout, which I stream from either LA or New York, wherever she’s based that week. Tracy was Madonna and then Gwyneth Paltrow’s personal trainer, and now has her own business with over a million followers on Instagram. The workouts use body weight and light weights. I’ve been working out with her 4-5 times a week since 2007. Back then she would ship the workouts on DVDs: the workout changed every 10 days. Now everything is online and switches up once a week; once I’ve learned how to do the week’s workout, I listen to audio books. Last month it was My Dark Vanessa; this month I’m listening to a BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot mysteries.

I’ve been working out virtually (and sometimes in real life) with trainer, Tracy Anderson, since 2007

Working out to the Tracy Anderson Method, helped by my daughter

7 - 8 am My daughter, Jasmine, appears downstairs for breakfast. I put my weights away, run round doing a few chores, like laundry, dishes, vacuuming and have breakfast - which is either:

• Protein smoothie: home-made nut milk, 1/2 banana, frozen berries, protein powder, creatine or

• local, organic Greek yoghurt with collagen, creatine, nuts, seeds, berries and local honey.

8 - 9 am School run. Connor comes with us and after I’ve dropped Jasmine off, I train him. It’s a rural school, and as well as children and cars, there are other distractions such as horses and sheep. I feed him his daily food allowance while I try and teach him to walk to heel and ignore the horses, who he really wants to say hello to. Frankly, he’s not that into kibble.

Our dog is only slightly bonkers…

Connor…the training is going well

9 - 9.30 am Quick wash and get dressed. Mediate for ten minutes listening to binaural beats for brainwave training, make coffee. While it’s brewing, I do a quick stretch over a Swiss ball.

9.30 - 1 pm Write. I try and get into a flow state when I’m writing, so during this block of time I don’t have any meetings or take phone calls. I switch off all notifications and I only work on one thing - at the moment it’s my nature memoir, Wilderness, which you can read here.

I have a diffuser going with Pirate oil, essentials oils of lemon, clove, cinnamon, rosemary and eucalyptus, which helps me focus.

I start by reading through what I wrote the last time I was writing and do a light edit, then begin writing. I stop writing just before 1 pm and make notes about what I was going to write, so that I can pick up the narrative again quickly the next time.

I aim to write at least 1,000 words.

I make another coffee around 10.30 / 11 and while it’s brewing, do a quick stretch and have a square of dark chocolate.

Once a fortnight I go to a café and write. As we’re in a pretty rural location, it takes me at least 20 minutes to drive there and I often feel like that’s going to be a waste of time.

But actually it makes me more productive over all, plus what’s not to love about someone else making the coffee and bringing me cake? I usually go to Yeo Valley Organic Gardens, which is soothing and inspirational, or Yeo Valley HQ: the view is stunning.

I try and work somewhere inspirational that sells coffee every couple of weeks

Yeo Valley Organic Garden. Quirky and delightful.

1 - 2 pm Lunch, which is usually either

• salad with herbs from our local veg box and from the garden, homemade dressing, beans and eggs from our chickens or

• homemade soup or chilled homemade gazpacho with homemade gluten-free bread and poached eggs.

I take Connor out for a quick 10 - 20 min walk, usually through our rewilding project. I like seeing what’s changed and what’s in bloom through the seasons.

2 - 3.30 pm If I’m working to a deadline, as I was when I was editing my thriller, which I wrote about here, I’ll carry on writing. Otherwise I switch to doing admin, check my emails, respond to any comments on Substack, and do some social media for my author profile or Wild Pinebeck.

3.30 pm Connor and I go and pick Jasmine up.

4 pm Jasmine feeds the chickens corn and checks for eggs; we both have a snack. I usually have whatever I didn’t have for breakfast, yoghurt or a protein smoothie and an apple.

4.30 - 5.30 pm While Jasmine is doing her homework, I go for a mountain bike ride or a run, taking Connor with me. We’re lucky because we live literally on the West Mendip Way, a long distance hiking trail.

5.30 pm Hose my bike, Connor and myself down. If it’s an RLF day, this is when I normally finish (Jasmine stays on at after school club), and then I either do half an hour of pilates (I have my own reformer) or else 30 minutes lifting heavy weights. Jaimie has created a mini gym in one of the dilapidated stables in Willow Field with barbells, a squat rack and pull up bar. Birds skim through and poo on my weights bench and I share the space with Jaimie’s 3 lawn mowers and his collection of axes (5 so far).

6 - 8 pm Make tea. It’s normally some form of vegetarian protein with vegetables and a grain-free carb, occasionally, rice, such as a bean stew with chimichurri, tofu stir fry with tahini sauce or veggie sausages, steamed vegetables and sweet potato wedges.

Clear up the dishes, clean the kitchen, do more laundry, prep for the next day.

8 pm We watch one episode of something on Netflix of Jasmine’s choice - we loved Heartstopper (

Lauren James

was the story consultant for the series and wrote about it here). We’re currently watching Clarkson’s Farm, which is hilarious.

8.45 - 9.30 pm Read, stretch and then go to bed.

To do this - every writing day and every other-type-of-work day - takes a lot of planning and prep - so I’ll cover this and my weekend routine in another post.

How do you structure your day? Do you have a morning routine? What’s your writing routine?

Sanjida x

To read more writer’s routines, head over to the

Royal Literary Fund

My Writing Life.

Don’t feel able to subscribe? Perhaps you’d like to buy me a coffee instead?