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Hi everybody! I'm Joey Paul, and I'm an indie author,
and welcome back to my channel. I write young adult fiction across a variety of genres
and if you think that might interest you then think about subscribing below.
So I know I've talked before about my writing routine, and I will link that video up in the
cards, but it's been a long while and I thought that I would break it down now, and give you an
idea of how I work. So number one: planning and planning some more. I know that a lot of people
already know this, but in case you don't, I am a huge planner when it comes to my time.
I may not plan much when it comes to the actual writing, but I do plan when and where I'm going to
write, and work and all of that. If you followed me on Instagram or Twitter you'll have seen
the photos of my weekly and monthly spreads. I use a paper planner but I also have it all planned out
on my iPad calender as well. This allows me to work out what I'm gonna be doing when, and how to
plan my day because, as we'll get to in a moment, I don't work the whole day. So step one for me,
is always going to be looking at my planner, and my spreads, and working out what needs to be done
when. I get up early naturally, it's been that way now for a couple of years where my body just
wakes up between 3 and 5am, without an alarm. I've tried to go back to sleep, but nope, when I'm up,
I'm up! So for me all this work is being done in the early morning when no one else is awake,
and that works really well for me because it saves for the distractions and the like. I used
to work in the morning/afternoon, but as with most things in life, it changed and I adapt as needed.
But planning my time is a big part of my writing routine, so I'd be remiss not to include it here.
Number two: drafting on different days. A lot of you will know that I'm usually juggling a
few different projects at once. When it comes to drafting, I will always be working on at least
two books. People have asked why I don't get confused between the two,
and that's simply because I split them to work on different days. I generally write a chapter a day,
and because of that I write two days of one book, before switching to another book for two days,
and so on. I don't write every day and I'll get onto that in a moment, but when I am writing it's
very very rare that I will write two different projects on the same day. It has happened before,
but it's not a common thing. I do it this way so that when I'm setting up in the morning, I know
which project should have my focus, and it allows me to really hone in on that particular story and
all the characters and plot points within it. Like most writers I'm constantly thinking about scenes,
and the stories throughout the day, no matter what I'm doing, but this regimented thing
allows me to keep my mind on one story. It's worked for me for a number of years now and I
really do feel like it's the best way that I personally can go about it. Number three:
revision in chunks. I am usually, while drafting, also revising a project, and rather than
mix the two processes, I set aside a different day to do a bunch of revision in a chunk.
I know for some writers it's easier for them to cope with a small part and go from there,
when I first start revision I will do this because I'm making notes and such along the way to allow
for the changes that come later in the drafts. When it comes to the actual revision, inputting
changes, that's when I'll assign myself a chapter count and go from there. I do it this way because
there are usually, several days between revision days and this allows me to stay in the story for
a while. I try to mix up which chapters I do when, so I'm not always looking at the same chunk at the
same time every time I go through it. I usually set these days for when I'm recording a video for
authortube, and will do the revision when all the recording, editing and captioning is done.
Right now I'm working on a very polished draft because I took last year off editing and so I've
had all this time to get Invisible to the stage it is now, but normally I would be doing it over
a much shorter period. If a draft needs more work than I have time for, that's when I'll see about
changing the deadline, but so far I've almost always had time to get things done. Number four:
editing in the morning. If, like right now, I have the professional edit going on at the same time,
then I set aside some time when I'm done with all the other work to go through the edits for
the day. At the moment I'm into the developmental stage still, so there are quite a lot of edits to
get done. And this can take me anywhere from a few minutes to hours, depending on what stage I'm at
and what shape the comments are in and such. It''s usually the last thing I do before going on to
moving onto the next point, because that's when I can shut my computer down, and transfer up to bed,
to go through with edits with the editor. If I'm at that point, proofreading I'm not usually,
because I'm not generally going over things with the proofreader, this is more when I'm in to the
developmental edits stage. And number five: resting in the day. People will often wonder
how I manage to cram so much into those few hours, and read so much, and here's the answer,
I have been doing this for a number of years, and while I'm getting better at being more efficient,
and productive, my body is also getting to the point where it won't let me do much else. I will
usually only be able to read and rest, for the remainder of the day, once I've done whatever work
is needed for me. I will spend my time reading books and chatting with a friend, I'm usually
done work wise by about 9am at the latest. It's the early start that allows me to get more done,
but it's also chronic illness and disability that stops me from doing more. It works for
me and that's okay, but I also know that it won't work for everybody, and people are different, and
that's okay too. So there we go, that's more or less my writing routine and how I get things done.
As I said, it's something that works for me, and something that I've had a lot of time to hone, and
practice and all the rest, and really you have to decide what works for you, and anybody's routine
is different from anybody else's. So how does your writing routine look? Lemme know in the comments
down below. So that's all I've got time for today, if you wanna support my channel, you can comment,
like or subscribe. I post new videos on Thursdays. You can find me all over social media,
and my books are available everywhere. And don't forget to pre-order Cramping Chronicles:
The Second Pang, which is the second in a young adult urban fantasy series,
and if you do pre-order, don't forget to grab the SWAG. And also don't forget to
grab a ticket for Author City in Birmingham in July 2023 where I will be signing books.
All the links for which are listed below. Thanks for watching and remember to keep writing, bye!