Michael,
I suspect that
your modus operandi is the way it is for many of us; it certainly is for me! (I like "I never stop kicking at the tires". That's a great way to put it.)
A poem a day for six years, John?? That's some output! I'm impressed that you've managed to keep it up. (Was Mike hinting at quantity v quality, I wonder?
)
"Lots of dawn poems", you say. "Dawn'' is pretty much unknown to me (except, perhaps, when having to get to an airport), being a night owl. I definitely function better in the wee small hours after midnight.
But I agree about the first words going onto paper rather than a screen. I like sitting up in bed with a cup of tea, an A4 lined pad, a pencil, and a thesaurus and rhyming dictionary to hand, just in case.
Jayne