Good creative writing emerges from the confluence of two disparate streams: strong feeling and intellectual rigor. Essential writing "skills"--e.g., clarity, economy, structural thinking--are to a large extent teachable. But they are, ideally, merely servants to a higher force: sustained passion. While passion and creativity cannot be "taught," there are many things that writers can do to nourish them.

Set a Regular Schedule

Some writers can wake up at 6 and write until midnight; others can and do write anywhere and anytime. They are the exceptions. Most writers need a schedule.

Circadian rhythms vary. Even though morning seems to be a favored time for writers (Hemingway, famously, worked all morning and started drinking at lunch), if you're more alert and together in the afternoon, work then. Most writers (and artists in general) find that they have three to six hours of focused creativity in them per day. It is those hours that should be sacred - i.e., uninterrupted. Other working hours can be spent editing, researching, etc.

Once a schedule is settled on, strict invariance is usually called for. The creative mind, like an willful child, wants discipline. Occasionally this means sitting before a blank screen for five straight hours just to show it you can wait. For most writers, sustained production is difficult or impossible without a fairly rigid schedule.

Find and Accept Your Quirks

The quirks of famous writers are legion. This one composes at a lectern, on 3" x 5" cards; that one can't work without his cat present; the other can only write in hotel rooms. For nearly everyone, there is a particular set of circumstances that allows them to relax and concentrate best. Finding it can take a long time and a lot of experimentation. Read about your favorite authors and try their strategies. Try closing the curtains, or putting in earplugs, or wearing a tie, or drinking ginseng tea. Whatever your working quirks turn out to be, don't be afraid to embrace them.

Make Unstructured Time

Like any artist, a writer needs time both to experience the world and to let it resonate within. Good writers read a lot and widely, in and outside of their particular genre or area of expertise; they experiment, often playfully, with different forms; above all, they sit and think. All this translates into a need for unstructured time, alone and free of distraction.

Perhaps the most important thing a creative writer can do, therefore, is to create a daily schedule that gives her this time. Some writers designate the first few hours of the day for reading and thinking; others do their "directed" writing first thing in the morning and read after lunch, or at night. But whether it's early or late, or even only on weekends, the writer should be able to relax during this time, free from duties or interruptions. Turn off the phone, lock the study door, or go where you can't be found if necessary.

To many writers, this idea seems like a luxury, given the number of hours that must be devoted to family and paid work. But once writers have integrated this kind of unstructured time into their working life, few are willing to consider it anything less than a necessity.

Talk

Almost by definition, a writer needs an audience. This need can be usefully extended to the writing process. Reading one's work-in-progress to receptive listeners is something that many writers do as a matter of course. Hearing one's own words spoken, in fact, is often more instructive than the listeners' comments.

Trade lopsided conversations with other writers. Workshop your ideas. Try to get others to feel the enthusiasm for your subject or characters that you do--it will feed your own passion.

Some writers find discussing their work-in-progress to be distasteful and/or harmful. These same people, however, can be animated conversationalists on any other topic. Conversation can stimulate the mind, rekindle enthusiasm, and provide a therapeutic break from the business of lining up silent black marks in rows.