I think writing every day is a very tricky situation. While
it may seem easy to maintain, especially if you are prolific-slanted, there are
a number of barriers.
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Coming up with something to write every day.
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Having to edit what you write every day.
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Finding time to write ever day.
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Being worried you don’t have anything relevant
to share.
This is the short list of barriers. Any one of these can
completely derail your progress towards a daily writing goal. However, there
are number of steps you can take to make the writing daily goal more tangible.
Like anything, these are small steps towards a much longer path, and the path
is different for everyone. Some writers will recommend ideas surrounding daily
habit creation. They argue that if it works for one thing it can work for
others. My goal here is to offer advice that is specific to the writing daily habit,
not to other habits. That being said, I may dive into other habit creation as a
method of explaining each section. Here are the seven tips I can think of that
can help build a daily writing habit. Are these all the tips there are in the
world? No, but I think this I a wonderful start towards that effort.
Step 1: Writers write
This is a two-word phrase that also has a double meaning.
The first meaning is that the act of being a writer is simple. If you write
things, you can automatically call yourself a writer. The second meaning is
that as a writer, you have to actually write. So this is both a “welcome” to a
group and a “get to work”. It’s about giving yourself permission to be bad and
still call yourself a writer. After all, who cares if what you write is garbage
if you can edit it into gold? Or if it’s complete garbage and only teaches you
how not to do it. Either way, the central tenant is that to be good at anything
you need to practice it. While I don’t think 10,000 hours to expertise applies
to writers, I would say that 1,000,000 words does. If you can create over a
million words in a variety of story combinations, that will help you tremendously
towards being an expert writer. That may take a half a year or a decade to
reach, but by typing one word at a time, you will get there.
Step 2: Imagine with eyes open
Normally writing advice would tell you the steps to build a
habit at this point. Instead, I think it’s important to determine what you want
writing to be to you. If you want to write simply because of the money, then
think about how you want that job to look. If you want to write to keep people
entertained in their cars during their commutes, think about how best to
produce audio books. If you want to write to show lessons, think about how to
border conflict with reliability. Finally, if you want to write simply to
please yourself, think about why writing pleases yourself. Once you’ve got a
good vision of the “why” behind writing, you can start to experiment in that
direction. That’s the part of “with eyes wide open”. Having a deeper purpose
behind your material also helps build motivation, which will be absolutely necessary
for a daily writing habit.
Step 3: Decrease excuses
Part of why writing every day is so hard is because there
isn’t a normal space for it. Just like when you cram in round peg to square
hole, things just don’t fit naturally. However, if you cut the corners of the
square hole, then fitting in the round peg is much easier. The same is true for
every habit you wish to learn. For example, if you expect to write fantastic
material every time, you are going to be upset when the muse isn’t sitting next
to you. Sometimes you just need permission to write junk. Another excuse is
that you don’t know what to write. This can be alleviated with writing prompts
and flash fiction. Or it can be alleviated with building a writer’s blog where
you can post your thoughts. Finally, the longer your day goes on, the more
things get added to your “to-do” list. In addition, you wear out more throughout
the day, so motivation may go down. It is a lot easier to write in the morning
and be done with the work. Then, the rest of the day, no matter what happens,
you finished building on your daily writing habit.
Step 4: Know when to end
Part of building a daily habit is know how much you need to do.
If you want to write a specific amount, then make that part of your daily
habit. Knowing when you can end writing is just as important as knowing how you
are going to start your writing. That can also give you a push if your nearly
the goal and simply need to get one or two more paragraphs done.
Step 5: Rain Dancing the Word Count
There are certain cultures where they believe that dancing
can cause the rain to fall. This ritual of dancing followed by result, was
enough to make them believe in this truth. That same idea can be used to trick
your brain. By figuring out a particular spot to write, what to drink when you
write, what you listen to when writing, etc, you can build fake momentum. In
other words, you can trick your brain into thinking “okay, now it’s time to
write” by surrounding your daily writing habit with little rituals. While these
rituals may not help you build any word count, they can put you in the mood to
write.
Step 6: Don’t pull a “just got my gym membership” mistake
A lot of people want to get in better shape. This is especially
true when the year starts. They know that they’ve been really relaxed in their
fitness and with a new year starting, they are ready to make a change. These
people build a chart to track which days are for which muscles. They build a
diet plan and make sure they have all the workout gear needed. They go and buy
new clothes. Finally, they compare gyms and sign up for the best one. The first
week of exercise comes and they go hard starting on Day 1. They are sore and
have had an excellent workout. The next day, they try to replicate this with a
new muscle group, wondering if this is going to be their new normal. After all,
how long until they are considered regulars? Day 3 comes and they give
themselves a bit of a break. Everyone needs a rest day after all, right? You
don’t want to over-do it, right? Day 4 happens and they try again, but start to
get bored and make it a short trip. Day 5 something comes up in their life so
they skip their calendar. Day 6 happens and they try to get by with the least amount
of energy people. From Day 7 forward, life becomes busy and they are never
spotted in the gym again. The gym is happy, because they keep their membership
for a few more months, which subsidizes the expensive equipment. So how exactly
does this apply to writing? People can look at a daily writing habit the same
way they look at a gym visit. They work out too hard at first and put in to
much energy. While they believe the focus is “getting fit” they really should
have been focused on fun. The same is true for writing. If you are just going
for word count, without taking into account what makes writing fun, you are
more likely to give up. If you make writing a relaxing thing, then you are more
likely to indulge in it.
Step 7: Celebrate through inspiration
I think a lot of writing is building a unique value. That
can mean a wild fiction world where anything is possible. It can also mean an article
that doesn’t have a clear search engine “winner”. Finding a need and filling
the need is at the soul of every entrepreneur endeavor. However, after that
need is filled, I think it’s a good idea to celebrate. This can be done with a
sweet treat, printing something off in a 3D printer, or simply looking for
potential inspiration for the next chapter. Either way, taking a moment to
reflect on your writing is important. It helps frame the writing as valuable,
even if that’s not fully true. Many people live not on what they produce, but
on what they can produce. That means that building a solid writing habit, and
learning the techniques of writing, can make you more valuable than a single great
book. After all, being able to build many fun books is often more important
than building one extremely painful book that you never want to do again.
