Since I started publishing my romance fiction, I have lost track of how many times people have asked me about my process: just how exactly do I go about writing a book – and beyond that, writing the next book and the next and the next?

I think the fascination with a writer’s routine comes from two camps: readers, who enjoy the writer’s work and like to visualise the writer in the act of creation, and writers, who admire the writer’s work and want to learn from and thus emulate the writer in the act of creation. State any of the following facts to such readers and writers, and their eyes will light up with interest:

* Ernest Hemingway wrote in the mornings, ‘as soon after first light as possible’, through to lunchtime, and then let ideas fill him in the afternoons and evenings ready for the next day’s session. (source)

* Maya Angelou paid for a hotel room by the month and used it as her writing base until two p.m. each day, at which time she would go home and edit what she’d written that morning. (source)

* E.B. White liked to write right in the thick of activity in his family house; he believed ‘a writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper’. (source)

* Stephen King has everything just so when he writes: a drink, a vitamin, his music, the same seat, his papers in the same place as yesterday. ‘The cumulative purpose of doing these things the same way every day seems to be a way of saying to the mind, you’re going to be dreaming soon.’ (source)

Recently, author Lionel Shriver told the Observer newspaper all about her routine, which has evolved over the years into writing late in the day and evening, so that she goes to bed at around four a.m. (which makes the postman knocking at nine a.m. very inconvenient). The interviewer really hit the nail on the head with this question: ‘Is there something about the solitude and quiet that fits with writing?’ Most writing routines come down to this need to be alone, in a writing bubble, where the outside world cannot permeate.

Prolific, long-term writers have always been my role model, and I think the fascination with writing routine is closely related to a respect for the author’s organisation and discipline. Early on in my writing career, I realised the need for a fairly rigid routine, to ensure I could always spend enough hours of the week writing. My routine includes the following rules:

* Always write with a view – in France, my desk overlooks the Mediterranean; in Kent it overlooks the garden.

* Be at the desk straight after breakfast.

* Spend no longer than an hour on marketing and administrative tasks (I set a timer).

* Do not waste time fiddling with yesterday’s writing; read it back, make light edits, and then move the story on.

* Take a short break for lunch, and then continue.

* When the pace slows, step away from the desk. Rest. Bake a cake. Take an ‘inspiration walk’. Daydream. Be with family.

I don’t think it matters, in fact, what the routine for a writer is, so long as one exists. Without a routine, writing is a chaotic, jerky affair, and that can come through in the writing itself. A routine allows a writer to take the work of writing seriously, just like any job, and it creates the space for the muse to speak. A routine also banishes writer’s block; there is no waiting for ideas to come, you simply turn up on time, sit down and write. In this way, you can hone your writing craft by writing regularly, and you can write not just one book but, over time, many.

Do you like to write? Do you have a routine that serves you well? Are there any writers’ routines that inspire you (or, conversely, that you think are a little crazy)? I would love to hear your thoughts.