The value of routine

Come to think of it, I have always been anti-routine. I would much rather act on impulse, and I often do. I would rather jump from here to there and back again. I want to just follow my heart and be live rather than organized.

Just as in writing, I have never ever wanted to outline and then write. I must I must write first and rearrange. Writing is more like painting to me. I could never do paint by numbers. I would have to splash colors and see what comes. I must have FREEDOM.

With all that being said, a little routine isn't so bad! So long as it isn't enforced. So long as I can set it for myself!

Looking back, I can remember once upon a time when part of my morning routine was grinding coffee beans and drinking three rather small cups of black coffee from the china my mother had collected for me over the years.

I never thought of that as routine, but it really was.

And now my routine is quite different. My routine evolved. No more coffee.

Now when I get up, I go to the computer, and I get right down to it. I write down a Heavenletter as I hear it. I write down a blog. I check emails and answer them as I am able. I do Twitter for the day's published Heavenletter, and I do Twitter for the blog I've just posted. I check that R-1 and Facebook for Heavenletters and the blog. I read all comments and respond. Sometimes there is a backlog, though I love to be up to date.

I check email and block a lot of spam. I try to answer or refer as many emails as time allows.

And as time allows, I do some writing on one or more of the books. I'm afraid this has mostly been left to do after the rest is done, and I don't always get to it.

Only when the basics are done do I think of getting dressed and leaving my room. This is often at 1 or 2 p.m. I am fairly compulsive about getting done what has to be done first.

In the morning is when I seem to have the most focus and energy. I love to work straight through. Once I get up and out and come back to work, I often don't have quite the same zip.

Anyway, it turns out that I really like my routines. They give me a certain comfort.

I used to be someone who would cherish getting up and doing just what I felt like at the moment. Read a book if I wanted. Go out into the garden. Fiddle around with something. Meet people for lunch etc. etc.

No longer can I think of that free time as a privilege. I seem to require having good work to do and feeling purposeful.

I wouldn't know any longer what it feels like to get up and make breakfast! I suspect that afterward I would come to the point where I thought: "What next?"

Now I have a long list (I say this figuratively because mostly I don't keep lists) of things to do.

I realize I must like having more to do than I can get done. If I didn't like it, would I have it?

And what is your routine like?