Celebrate your wins, big or small. Finish a chapter? Celebrate. Get 50 words down on the page? Shout it from the rooftops. Finally typed “The End” on your manuscript? You get the point. Don’t wait until you get an agent or publish a book to toast all the hard work you’ve done to get there.

So when I decided I was serious about writing a book and (hopefully, eventually) also getting it published, I knew I needed a plan. I needed to find a way to get words on the page while also balancing my full-time job and allowing myself to have non-writing time on the weekends. Here’s what helped me establish my personal writing routine.

In 2019 I typed down a rough idea for a romance novel in my Notes app.

After sitting on my manuscript for months, I’ve only recently taken the next step in the long, winding journey for anyone hoping to have their book traditionally published: querying literary agents.