The other daily task that Dorothea Brande's warning pertains to is to write for fifteen minutes at a set time every day. No matter what you're doing at that time, whether you're shopping, in full conversational flow or in the shed looking for the bloody secateurs again, you must stop and write for 15 minutes, about anything. This is also an exercise recommended by Natalie Goldberg in her wonderful book Writing Down the Bones.
My time I have picked is 1.15 pm. This is during Jingle's big daytime nap and usually she is asleep until 2pm. It's my time to eat, clean or read but writing is equally a priority. And fifteen minutes goes so fast when spent on the page.
This may seem like another obligation in an already restrictive routine but I can see how this rigidity will be good for me. And I need to just write. Not thinking or reading about writing, not agonising over an intricate plot line that never manifests but simple writing practice.
No critic, no perfection. Just the ink, the page and me.
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