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# #amwriting
- URL: https://werd.io/amwriting/
- Published: 2023-08-15T15:34:33.000Z
- Updated: 2023-08-15T15:34:33.000Z
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: #Import 2025-06-13 09:21

[Kate McKean describes how she’s writing her novel](https://katemckean.substack.com/p/how-im-writing-my-book):

> Right now, I am getting up early (6ish, not bonkers early) and leaving my house about 7am to go to a local coffee shop to write for an hour or two before my regular work day. I do this Tuesdays and Thursdays as much as possible.

It’s honestly not a bad plan. I’ve mostly been writing in the evenings once the baby goes to sleep, but not as consistently as I’d like: there are sets of days where I get barely any words down at all. But then again, there are other days when I write thousands, and because I’ve become used to my own ebbs and flows I try not to be too hard on myself.

If I’m writing during the daytime, green tea is my crutch. There’s something about *just enough* caffeine, without the cortisol boost that coffee gives you, that puts my head into the right spot. I used to depend on [brain.fm](https://brain.fm) to tune out distractions, but I’m lucky enough to have an office with a closing door. The sound of the wind outside — or more commonly lately, a raging thunderstorm — works just fine.

It’s taken a very long time to get this far, but at this pace I expect to have a full first draft ready by the end of September. Obviously, I’m full of self-doubt about being able to *do* anything with it once I hit that milestone, but getting there will be an achievement in itself.

And that’s all I really want to say about any of this, because talking about something you *have* written feels much more meaningful than talking about something you *will*.

Nonetheless: worth mentioning that I’m still at it.