My Creative Writing Routine: Summer Diaires

Devangana Sharma| The Atlantic Muse| Summer Diaries| 2025-8-13

It always starts with an idea. Not a lightning bolt or an Eat, Pray, Love epiphany, but just a whisper. 

It could be a sentence I overhear at the coffee shop: “I was shocked! He literally spilled wine on my white shirt.” This is prime gold, not just gossip. How could he stain her shirt red?

It could be a picture that haunts my life like the ghost of Christmas past. Or a conversation that lingers in my mind, like the bitter taste of embarrassing moments. 

Suddenly, I find myself with my notebook out, writing furiously in my journal like I am a literary emergency responder. The cursive arrives before the ink touches the crisp cream paper (nothing says serious writer like some loops and curves). 

Mornings are fueled with the hope of writing the next Gatsby; inspiration is my green light. Afternoons turn into three cups of tea and me contemplating life choices. And nights? A burst of magic. The world may be asleep when it’s dark, but my laptop and I are surely busy.

This isn’t just my creative writing routine but an old Hollywood affair. 

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Creative Writing Routine

Step 1: Find Inspiration

Here’s a secret: If the idea isn’t there, then I am not either. I am envious of the artists who practice their art every day for an hour. I just can’t if it doesn’t click. It’s like my creativity curls up in bed wearing pyjamas and busies itself in the latest episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty. 

So what do I do? Find inspiration. Sometimes I find it at the oddest of places, like the claw machine at my nearest movie theatre or through a lover’s spat at Walmart. This process would be a whole lot faster if inspiration were on Google Maps.

My current muse (mind tattoo) is a quote by Tina Turner. I was recently reading The Sweetness in the Lime by Stephen Kimber, and the lyric “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” decided to buy up some space in my brain. For someone (me) who appreciates a good romantic gesture and classic romantic comedies like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” this quote felt like a plot twist. Mind you, it’s the very first part of the book. Naturally, I had thoughts, many to be specific. Naturally, I need to immortalize them through writing utensils.

Step 2: Get a Journal

Typing first drafts on a laptop just feels physically wrong, almost like drinking hot chocolate in the summer. 

I need paper. Ink. The drama of writing things out physically is truly cinematic. Right now, I am obsessed with the Maud Lewis journal from Nimbus Publishing. The cover alone makes you want to become a published author. Plus, journaling provides you with the opportunity of being found years later and someone gasping at your work, saying, “So this is how it all began.”

Everything physically starts from this notebook, making it a gem of a piece.

Step 3: Write a Draft

Ah, the daunting first draft. Both chaos and magic. My first draft is terrifying to any writer, cluttered with plot holes and ideas that take a snack break every ten minutes. And how could I forget metaphors that result in raised eyebrows (from me) and pure disgust (sometimes)?

With my Tina Turner quote, I began thinking about mystery novels with romance subplots like The Last Time I Saw Her by Alexandra Harrington and Foreign Affairs by Nick Wilkshire, where mystery has a romance subplot. It’s comical in itself, using whodunnits to represent the biggest whodunnit of all. 

When I get stuck, I grab a random word, like “orange” or “beach,” and force its essence into the story. It’s either genius or a disaster! But I am a firm believer that there’s beauty in every mess. Plus, disasters make for better stories later anyway. 

Step 4: Type Draft Electronically

This is the stage where “I get serious,” metaphorically, of course. The words from the page go into the blank document with a blinking cursor. It suddenly feels all so official even when the writing itself is still a big mess.

I have a love-hate thing with this step. The red underlines and random spaces between words are enough to drive me crazy. I need the mistakes to go so I can focus, but I know that if I edit everything too soon, it ruins the flow. So I try, try, and try to behave (keyword: try). 

Step 5: Edit

Let’s pretend I didn’t correct a few spellings in my writing before getting to this stage. Trust me, I tried to stop myself. 

Editing is where my inner perfectionist wakes up, grabs a coffee, and gets to work. 

I begin with organizing the piece into shape, wrestling with new and old thoughts. The worst part is when I have to erase some of the prettiest sentences, just because they don’t fit (sigh). Then I get to my favourite part: correcting the grammar. I tackle the punctuation and typos that are invisible to the human eye.

It’s long. Slow. Slightly torturous. But the “Tortured Writer” energy is the perfect addition. 

Step 6: Design and Catalogue

This step is my guilty pleasure. 

Once the writing is done, I dress it up like it’s going to the Met Gala. Fonts get switched, and colours get tested. When it all feels right, it gets saved to the esteemed folder on Google Drive. To be just a little extra, I print the piece also because its physical presence is something special. If you don’t think that is going “above and beyond,” I also physically and digitally label each of them. 

It’s not just about saving words. It’s about knowing that my work matters and that I put in the effort just for myself.

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Creative writing is a performance: a puzzle, a piece of therapy, and an art. Some days it can be the easiest thing in the world. Words will be tumbling out of my brain before I even realize what I am writing. Other days, it feels like lifting the sky, which I know can be pretty daunting, from my knowledge about Percy Jackson novels. But this confusion is where the enjoyment truly lies. 

This is more than a routine; it’s a love story. Like any love story worth telling, it usually ends with a happy ending. 

Essentials for Creative Writing