We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
Success requires effort. Many people get drunk with the idea of becoming a bestselling author, but sometimes forget that this is a long process that takes hundreds of butt hours, I mean… sitting hours.
More often than not, aspiring authors write in irregular sessions. They can write 1k in one day, but then not touch the manuscript again in one or two weeks.
Committing to writing is the only way in which you really can finish your book. You have a long way ahead of yourself, that’s why making a habit out of it is the best way to sort the obstacles between you and your author dreams.
I’ve always liked to write, but I was the kind of person that would speak about writing more than what I actually wrote. When I started to write my book, though, I met many people like me, so I decided to develop a writing routine, and commit to it. It was not easy, however, through my experience I found out some tips that can make the whole process much easier.
These are my ultimate tips for building a writing habit:
- Find your perfect spot
- Find out when you feel more productive
- Set daily goals
- Write, write, and write!
- Set an alarm
- Create your own ritual before starting your writing session
- Prepare your writing sessions beforehand
- Take short breaks
- Take your time
- Keep record of your progress
- Assess yourself every 21 days
- Become friends with other authors
- Forget about editing while writing
- Avoid procrastinating
- Make sure that you never begin your writing sessions with a new chapter
1. Find your perfect spot
If it’s difficult for you to stay focused, find a spot with no distractions, and call it your “writing spot.” Your regular writing space should be as quiet and comfortable as possible, and large enough. Try to have everything you need there, so you don’t need to interrupt your writing sessions. You can also go offline to keep you from surfing on the Internet.
If you don’t like silence I suggest playing some music in the background. I personally recommend ´Peaceful piano´ and ´Café del Mar – End of The Year Mix 2016´, both playlists you can find in Spotify
2. Find out when you feel more productive
Finding out the time of the day when you are more productive is very important. For some people the morning is when they can give their best. However, there are others who perform better at night. Maybe for you it’s before going to work or school, or perhaps after a good cup of coffee. It varies from person to person. Thus, if you find out whether you are a night owl or an early bird you can take advantage of this to have better and more productive writing sessions.
If you don’t know what the best time is, try writingat different times of the day and see when you feel more creative. You´ll discover that sometimes it’s easier and you find the perfect words. That is the moment when you’re going to write.
3. Set daily goals
You need to set yourself clear, powerful, achievable goals. You can start with 400 words per day (or as low as you feel comfortable) and as you go on you can add more until you get to 1,000 words every day. If you think about it 1,000 words might seem like a lot of words (and they are). However, if you write 1,000 words every day, in 60 days you have a book!… or a good, juicy first draft!
To get yourself motivated try to have a reminder of your goal close to you. You can print it or you can write it in a post-it and stick it to your screen.
4. Write, write, and write!
I know you might probably think this is obvious. But let me tell you something, it’s not! I’m talking about writing even though you don’t want to do it. Write, write, and write! You have a goal, you need those 1,000 words. Just write. It doesn´t have to be the best you’ve done, don’t be too hard on yourself.
If you write everyday you’ll see that you’ll become more productive. You’ll write more and better every time. It would be easier for you to write a page and in a few weeks you won’t be able to spend a day without doing it. Guaranteed!
5. Set an alarm
This can be really helpful when it comes to creating a habit. An alarm will be a reminder of your commitment to write every day. Set an alarm for the time you’ve chosen and stick to your schedule. It is important that you do it every day at the same time in order to make it a habit.
6. Create your own ritual before starting your writing session
This is something that I particularly enjoy. Creating a ritual could be something as simple as stretching, lighting up candles or preparing a cup of tea. Despite that, some authors have taken it to the next level. Alexandre Dumas wrote his fiction novels in blue paper, poems in yellow ones and articles in pink sheets. Isabel Allende would light a candle up and write until it would go off. Stephen King writes exactly 2,000 words every day, not more, not less. And, in my case,, I just take a cup of coffee, a big one, before putting fingers to keyboard.
Whatever your ritual is, it would make the process easier for you and you might even discover you like it most that way.
7. Prepare your writing sessions beforehand
The alarm goes off. It’s time to write. You are happy and most importantly; you have your cup of coffee and go to your writing spot but oh, you forgot to clean it last night. It’s a mess. You probably spend at least 15 minutes organizing everything and by that time you have already lost the inspiration.
I know it’s hard sometimes, but once you finish a session, clean your writing space and organize all your things. The next day you’ll be thankful.
First, forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you, wether you are inspired or not.
Octavia Butler
8. Take short breaks
If you are stressed out and you feel stuck, take a break. It´s common to feel that way. We´ve all been there and as writers we keep going through the same thing over and over. So, if you feel like you’ve run out of inspiration take a break.
The perfect break will be no longer than 20 minutes. During that time you can do whatever you want. However, get sure you go back to those ‘cold unfeeling keys’´ when your break is over. A good way to take advantage of that break is practicing meditation. Many authors do it and they claim to be more inspired when they go back to work.
9. Take your time
It’s very important not to rush. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Take the time to be motivated and don’t feel pressure to write a whole chapter in a day. Maybe you read this and you think:
“Oh, I want to write 3,000 words every day, I can do it”. And the fact is that you can do it, but you’d probably do it just for a few days, and then you won’t find the motivation to write the next day. When it comes to creating a habit, commitment and consistency are more important than rushing things. Quality over quantity. Remember, this is a marathon, not a speed race.
10. Keep record of your progress
Keep this in mind! If you want to build a writing habit you’ll need to be consistent. The problem is that sometimes we cannot remember clearly. That’s why you need to keep record.
We tend to minimize our negative actions and maximize the positive ones. Sometimes, we even change memories in our minds to make it more coherent to ourselves. We are, thus, tricked by our own brain, and of course not capable of assessing ourselves.
When you are trying to create a habit, the same thing happens. For that reason, you need to write down your progress. I suggest making a personalized calendar. You can write under the date the number of words you wrote that day and the time you took to do it. You can also write down any remarks you consider important about that writing session.
11. Assess yourself every 21 days
At this point you should’ve been writing for 3 weeks. Now is the time to ask yourself something: is writing still an effort for you? If the answer is no, and you feel comfortable writing or even better, you feel the need of writing, this is a good time to intensify your work. You can set a bigger goal, remember those 3,000 words…?
And maybe you are wondering, why 21 days?
This comes from a study carried out by Maxwell Maltz, a well-known American surgeon. He discovered his patients followed a similar pattern after a surgery. They took 21 days to get used to their new look. He also found out that the same thing happened with the phantom limb syndrome. He said, then, that it requires at least 21 days to erase a mental image and create a new one.
This is not the absolute truth, but it’s an estimation of how much time it takes to adapt to change.
If you don’t feel like writing has become a habit keep doing it for the next 21 days and then reassess yourself.
12. Become friends with other authors
Sometimes, it’s going to be difficult to write. Maybe you won’t have enough inspiration, or maybe you will think that writing is not for you. The truth is that at some point we all have those thoughts.
For this reason, I believe it’s important to have friends that are going through the same process. This way you would support and encourage each other. You can share ideas, give feedback and simply spend time together. You can also challenge yourselves to write every day, or do it together.
13. Avoid procrastinating
And this is when it gets really hard (at least for me). Do not ever procrastinate. NEVER! Don’t check your e-mail, don’t open Facebook or Youtube, don’t turn the TV on. Not even for five minutes. Just don’t!
Forget about all the distractions. You’ll have time for it later. If Internet is a potential distraction, write in a paper or a notebook instead of your computer. And then, when you have created the habit you can join the rest of the people living in the 21st Century.
Never let your writing for the next day. It’s hard, but with a little effort, it can be possible.
14. Forget about editing!
Go with the flow!
You need to set your imagination free and let the ideas flow. Try to write with fluency instead of spending 4 hours to write 5 perfect lines. Perfection will come with time, and it may never come. We are all works in progress. Give yourself time to grow.
If you think you can improve a part of what you wrote, and your inner editor kicks in, try to resist it. Leave all editing for the editing phase. You just need to keep going. Don’t look back.
You don’t want it to be perfect. You just need to write for a while. No matter what you write. You just need to worry about writing, writing, and writing. Let the words come out. Don’t be afraid of that blank sheet. You’ll have time for editing later, you’ll rewrite, and you’ll learn. Now you just need your words.
15. Make sure that you never begin your writing sessions with a new chapter
Sitting down to write and having to work on the beginning of a chapter or scene is literally throwing yourself into the arms of procrastination. Don’t take that risk.
That’s why, everyday, when you finish your writing, try to leave it in the middle of something, like a conversation or a description. The next day you just have to continue writing something that is already started. You’re welcome!
Summing up…
Creating a writing habit is far from being an easy task, but knowing these tips will help you find that disciplined writer that lives inside of you. Preparing the time and the place, avoiding procrastination, setting achievable goals and hanging out with other writers is worthwhile when it comes to developing a writing habit.
Most of the time you listen to people that want to create the habit of eating healthy food. Deep down, they don’t like vegetables and sooner or later they’ll end up eating that delicious burger with fries and a soda.
That’s not our case because we love what we do. We love writing. If not, why would we be doing it?
If you have any other tips that could help other writers stick to their writing routines let me know in the comments.
