I tried Neil Gaiman's writing routine 🖋️📖

Thank you so much for watching! 💛I just put up an ask over on my IG stories, so feel free to let me know what author routine / writing challenge you'd like to see next: www.instagram.com/christyannejones/

The whole "I give myself permission to do nothing" reminded me a lot of a person telling me that creativity is made from boredom. You can only come up with stories if you have the capacity in your mind to do it. I have recently had a lot of free time and for whatever reason I discovered so much of my creative capacities I never thought I had. Before that I always thought that doing nothing is a waste of time. "Do nothing or write" is probably on of the best advice I ever got for writing

Neil Gaiman is one of those authors where you can never know what he's gonna do next, he has such a wide variety and I swear everytime I'm at a bookstore I manage to see more novels that I didn't see before.

I sang during Neil Gaiman’s honorary doctorate ceremony and he came up to me after, shook my hand, and told me I had the voice of an angel 🥹 I nearly passed out, especially as a BaHons Creative Writing student who was studying American Gods at the time 😂

I have discovered one great thing about journals: you don't need to fill with text every bit of space from top to bottom and left to right. You can 1) write on one half or two thirds of a page and leave the rest for comments 2) dedicate one page to one paragraph. 3) write only on uneven pages, leaving even for comments. I love this way particularly. Plus I use stickers of different colours :-)

"Writing is actually more interesting than doing nothing, after a while." Love this quote! Great video, thank you!

“And you guys seem to be enjoying this series.” ……..EXCUSE ME WHAT?!? Um no m’am, we LIVE for this series. LIVE FOR IT

You are very lucky to live somewhere outside the Middle East. I am a girl from Iran and currently we girls are fighting with the government to get the right to wear optional clothing. Because they force us to wear headscarves and this revolution started last year when a girl was killed in the guidance patrol (by moral security police). Currently, as a girl who wants to have the right to dress herself without interference, I am not allowed to go to the library and many places like you. Of course, some cafes allow entry without hijab, but most of them are closed from the government for serve us. I traveled to Europe for a while and tasted freedom. Life is strangely calmer and less annoying when you do what you want and the road is smooth for you and no one constantly interferes in your life and work, does not humiliate you and does not deprive you of your most basic rights. Please become a good writer ❤

This was great, thank you... I'd love to see Ursula K Le Guin's writing routine, that would be fabulous.

I love writing by hand - your hand hurts by the end of the day, but it’s so much fun just to grab a pen and let loose. Also, now I feel like both Neil and Christy should be sponsored by Lamy for shouting them out so much 😂

also I like that he's pretty active on tumblr so looking at his blog, a lot of questions are answered even though he has THOUSANDS lined up.

Don't you think these days we've really lost the ability to "do nothing" as we just automatically just reach for our phones, it's sad! I really enjoyed the part that you read out and would love to read the whole thing 😊📖 Ps - Hilary Mantel's writing routine

I see first drafts as just tossing sand into a sandbox and then second drafts as making the sand castle so working in a notebook is great for me. It's garbage but I love having the initial ideas of my stories in pen form. It's just fun and it is great for just getting those ideas out of my head. I don't use fountain pen though just a really nice jotter parker ball point pen is good for me.

The edict to write or do nothing seems rather perfect: you can avoid distractions without putting too much pressure on yourself to produce words.

I keep hearing about Neil Gaiman's Routine but I am also afraid to go off computer, since I write so much slower in my journals than on the computer. Thank you for trying it out and sharing your thoughts.

There's a story (non-fiction) I've been trying to get myself to write for a while. Recently I tried writing it by hand in a notebook. No computer, no notes, no worrying about editing as I go. It felt so freeing. It was the key that finally unlocked everything.

It is such a talent to be able to write in different formats, I really admire him. Not all writers can do a screenplay and viceversa. PS. Love your series makes me wanna try the routines as well

You reading the first part of the story made me realize how nice it would be if one day you could narrate an audiobook of one of your stories!

Pls do the Ursula K LeGuin's routine next! This was a great vid, thanks! Made me want to add this routine to my writing to help me out of the slump♡ I also have a LAMMY so it works well lol Btw, about that. Idk if you knew this, but these pens come with a refillable ink cartridge. You just have to buy the flask of ink and you'll have infinite supply (until the flask empties, that is).

“To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.”-Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky