  We present a prescription to compute the time-domain gravitational wave (GW)
polarization states associated with spinning compact binaries inspiraling along
quasi-circular orbits. We invoke the orbital angular momentum $\vek L$ rather
than its Newtonian counterpart $\vek L_{\rm N}$ to describe the binary orbits
while the two spin vectors are freely specified in an inertial frame associated
with the initial direction of the total angular momentum. We show that the use
of $\vek L$ to describe the orbits leads to additional 1.5PN order amplitude
contributions to the two GW polarization states compared to the $\vek L_{\rm
N}$-based approach and discuss few implications of our approach. Further, we
provide a plausible prescription for GW phasing based on few theoretical
considerations and which may be treated as the natural circular limit to GW
phasing for spinning compact binaries in inspiraling eccentric orbits
[Gopakumar A and Sch{\"a}fer G 2011 {\em Phys. Rev. D} {\bf 84} 124007].
