A long-time subscriber to Mslexia magazine, ‘for women who write’, I always find its surveys really interesting reading. Not only do they help me find common ground with other writers, but they also offer up new ideas and ways of thinking.

This month, the survey in questions is ‘How do you get in the zone?’. What helps a writer get in the right place – physically, emotionally, mentally – in order to write, and write, and write?

Based on the survey results, I’ve pulled together some rules from which each writer can pick and choose to create the perfect ‘in the mood’ writing routine:

• Write when you can write undistracted. For most respondents (74 per cent) that means in the early morning, but 26 per cent write between six and nine p.m. I’m certainly a lark – I go to my desk right after breakfast and write until lunchtime. Like many respondents, I write in the mornings and rewrite/edit in the afternoons.
• Write when you’re dreamy. Many writers indicated that ‘the proximity of sleep helped access unconscious influences’, and some advise writing before you’ve even come to properly from sleep. Not a rule that works for me; I need a herbal tea to start the day at least!
• Write here, there and everywhere. One in three respondents don’t have a desk, and simply write when and where they can around their other commitments.
• Write in a designated workspace. Many of the writers who responded to the survey need a space associated with writing. That’s me as well, though I have several writing spots, from a desk in my office to a patio table in the garden (thank goodness for laptops). Interestingly, 30 per cent mentioned needing the workspace to be tidy. I understand that: order in the workspace, order in the novel.
• Write someplace quiet. Seventy per cent declared a need for quiet or silence, and I certainly value that when I write, but I probably fit best with the 21 per cent who sometimes play background music. I always choose music that fits the mood and era of the novel I’m writing.
• Write with sustenance to hand. I always have herbal tea and water within reach, but not chocolate as some writers do: I can only imagine how much I would eat! In fact, I’m with the one in six writers who don’t eat at all as they write, and then emerge from a writing session cathartically drained and ravenous.
• Write at once. As soon as you’re in position, go! Don’t waste time; don’t procrastinate – don’t think about the writing, just write. This works well for me (along with 73 per cent of respondents) because I always write to a plan and so I know what to write each morning.
• Write after preparation: Do a writing exercise, take a walk, meditate – find some inner calm before setting pen to paper.
• Write from a place of inspiration: Thirty-three percent of respondents have decorative art in their writing spaces, and 36 per cent refer to inspiring notes and quotes. Quotations are a big source of inspiration for me; if you follow me on Twitter (@FieldingHannah) you can see which quotes are inspiring me each day.

And finally, I was struck by the fact that many respondents have beautiful notebooks that lie untouched; ‘I cannot write in expensive notebooks at all’ wrote one respondent. ‘Oh, please do!’ is my response. I take great pleasure in writing in lovely notebooks that I can then keep for posterity and reference; and why not indulge in an expensive one now and again? That needn’t be a source of pressure for writing perfectly in the book; it can a reason to want to write because the experience is fulfilling. To the stationery shop, one and all!