The Writing Regimen

Pretty simple really. It’s something people always recommend: Write everyday for 20 minutes.

Here are my particulars on it:

- Write mornings, after washing up, coffee, possibly food, whatever it takes to wake me up, but nothing that’s going to exert mind matter.
- Write before reading. Possible exception is a news article which should really have been read the night before. So no reading - re: no procrastinating.
- Breaks after writing. No bread, no water, no cigarettes until the 20 minutes are up.
- Everything written typewriter to paper. Computers strangely give me a false sense of permanence which means I never see the stuff once it’s saved.
- Script format. You know, the basics: scene headings, action, dialogue. If tabbing gets in the way forget about that, just keep it as real as possible while you’re busy typing.
- Write continuously and freely. This means no editing, no sitting and lingering on the best way to put things. Just say everything every which way.
- Display the work. On the wall, anywhere, just don’t hide it.

After about a week or month or whatever suits you, you can go through an editing process with this stuff. But that’s another story.