Everyone does it differently. I'm into clutter.

I've fought it for years, but I finally have given in and faced it. I like to have stuff around me, and stuff takes up space. Besides, if I don't fill up the horizontal surfaces around me, the cats will. And cats bring in even less money than, say, poetry.

I compose first drafts on the computer and do minor revisions in pen on the printouts. My hours vary, depending on what else is going on in my life. Right now I have a full time day job, so I write in the evenings and on weekends. When I'm writing full time, I tend to get up early in the morning, write until early afternoon, take a longish nap, wake up and do it again.

If I listen to music when I'm writing, it's almost always instrumental. I can't have music with words, or I'll end up paying attention to it.