The Secret to Developing a Regular Writing Habit

                     

 

Writer's Life

This time of year, many people take a moment to consider what they did or did not accomplish last year and how this year is going to be different. Honestly, I'm not a fan.

This process sets a lot of people up for disappointment. And if you're a writer like me, it can be especially problematic. Writers don't need more goals. They need better habits.

And the first habit you should cultivate is to write every day, which is the subject of the post. For years, I set a goal to write a book, and for years, I disappointed myself. Do you know what the problem was? I was setting the wrong goal -- deciding the finish line without mapping out the process. But here's the truth:

Significant accomplishments are the result of regular habits, not arbitrary goals.

When I figured this out and began writing 500 words a day, becoming a full-time writer not only became possible. It was nearly inevitable. 

According to Jeff Goins, the fineness writer, he said in his write up that writing 500 words a day will :

• Make your writing better.
• Eliminate your fears and creative blocks.
• Allow you to create significant works, like a book, that you might otherwise not have enough time for.
•  his is the year you become a writer. And what do writers do? They write, of course.           
•                                                                                                          Jeff Goins

 There’s nothing mystical or magical about it. You just have to show up and do the work: place butt in chair, fingers on keys, and start typing. And this is where most people fail. They never actually write a word. They talk about writing, think about writing, even read about writing. But they do not write. How writing (really) happens You told yourself last year was going to be different, that you were actually going to be up and doing this time.

That you were going to work on that book or get back into blogging. But none of that happened. Why? Because you attempted too much. You tried to eat the whole elephant in one bite. And that never works when it comes to writing.

Here’s what I know about writing: It happens in small bites. Step by step. One little chunk at a time.

You don’t write a whole book. You write sentences that turn into paragraphs. And paragraphs turn into sections that, then, turn into chapters. In other words, it all begins with words.

You don’t control the outcome, just the process.

I’m in the middle of writing my next book right now, and it’s scaring me to death. It feels so important, so audacious, that I’m locking up, completely paralyzed.

I don’t want to mess this up (it’s supposed to be the best thing I’ve written so far). And because of that fear, I’m having trouble starting. So what do I do?

Do I try to write the whole thing in one sitting or keep fixating over the book concept? Do I continue obsessing over getting the table of contents just right or worry about what critics will think of this the sentence or that paragraph?

No. I just get up and write my 500 words. Turns out, that’s all writing really is — showing up. Not worrying about the outcome, just honouring the process. 

Source: Jeff Goins