I’m trying to develop a daily writing habit, and I see a lot of churn out there in world about habit tracking. Its never really worked for me before, but I might as well give it another shot. There is something about sitting down to write without editing that is captivating to my soul. This first entry I’m putting together might be a bit stream-of-consiousness drivel, but my goal here will be to create a daily writing habit that actually makes me improve my writing, as opposed to just showing up. But we’ll start with just showing up.
Build the habit.
It starts with sitting down. For me anyway, don’t worry about it if you’re a standing desk kind of person. I’ve noticed that if my computer is on full screen, I’m sitting down with a warm drink, and there’s only the sound of the clock tick tocking in the back ground I’m best able to pour out my thoughts. I used to be a pen and paper kind of person, but I’ve noticed lately that my thoughts spill out in such velocity that pen and paper feels frustrating. That is probably its own quality that is worth exploring another day.
Deciding what to write about might be a difficulty that allows procrastination. To build this habit, and to avoid procrastination I plan to write about the first thing that comes up. If while I’m writing or outlining my draft, another amazing idea for a topic comes up, I’ll shelve it on the 💡Someday Shelf, where good ideas wait for me to shuffle by and feel inspired. Sometimes the idea will have left me for another worthy and inspired soul1, and I’ll never get back to it. But for those ideas with patience to wait for me to grow the skill will be rewarded with an artistic expression when I finally pick them back up.
Grow the habit.
It continues with sitting down. This is the hard part, and where I’ve crumbled before. As I look back on my life, and what I’ve accomplished, most of the big things have happened because I’ve succumbed to the annoyance of a daily or at least frequent habit that shaped me in an unexpected way. Finishing my doctorate holds a lot of parallels to this writing challenge. The main difference being the concrete end goal that was in sight. Even if that end goal was a farce for a continued skill - continuously publishing papers - it made it easier for me to sit down and write.
My health is another example of annoying discipline, when it would be easier and potentially more immediately rewarding to not. My love of nature, my cardio health, and the way I move around like twenty year olds when I’m 40 are all because I’ve taken time to make sure I prioritize treating my body the way it deserves to be treated. This could be an idea for a someday shelf - I’m not trying to wave the virtue flag here, but I have noticed that I move through my day to day with fewer aches, pains, and general malaise than even my sister who is only four years older than me. I’m not a perfect specimen by any means, but I continue to pay attention to it with a focus on longevity.
I’m off topic, how quaint. I’m trying to explain how to grow a habit, and it’s not rocket science, though it is quite boring. Just do it, as the old adage goes. Keep sitting down, keep writing, and never expect perfection.
Notice the patterns.
This one is fun for me, but perhaps not for everyone. I do this in my job, with my weekly review. I should link my weekly review process to the digital garden since I could see how people might benefit from it. Essentially I take a look back at the week, and write down what went well, what did not go well, and what my top priorities are. I also look back over a few weeks and write down any patterns that have occurred. Typical things I see are procrastination around interacting with certain people, projects, or overwhelming ideas.
Sometimes its hard to identify whats lacking. When I do my weekly review, I generally have a really hard time remember what happened on Monday. I think this exercise of forcing myself to review what happened is actually really good for my brain. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that memory is fleeting, and deliberatly keeping track of what happened throughout the week makes my brain smoke a little. A little friction makes things stronger (usually).
So, notice why you are procrastinating. Do you not feel like you have time in your day to get this done? Are you terrified by a blank screen? Do you absolutely hate computers, and would prefer to be in a different location from your work station? Notice these issues, and experiment with solving them. If you notice a pattern that helps you write, or keeps you from writing, jot it down and change or double down on what you are doing. Experiment, and keep iterating.
Improve the skill.
Getting the habit ingrained is excellent and will affect change whether you like it not. And what those changes are should be deliberate. Writing every day is the first step, but becoming a better writer is the big, overwhelming goal that keeps us from writing every day in the first place. So do this last, once the habit is built. And when you do start working on improving the skill make sure the habit is solid.
To start with, a few editing sessions of your work should be scheduled. Do this in time blocks to avoid overwhelm. I suggest 30 minutes to start, but if you get into a flow state, stay there. No need to interrupt a good thing for a bad reason (the timer went off). Figure out what you think is lacking. Organziation, flow, voice? Pick one thing and deliberately edit that piece of writing for that quality. Really really really try not t ask the robots for help. Ask another human. If you ask a robot, you’ll start sounding like a robot.
So here’s to my starting my 1000 word a day writing challenge. For the next 30 days I’ll put 1000 words on digital paper, then once those 30 days are complete, I’ll keep going, but with some tweaks (likely an editing tweak). I also might not be able to complete every day, and I’ll give myself grace for that. Happy writing :)
Footnotes
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From the book “Big Magic” I don’t recall the author. It is the concept that ideas are alive, and pick a person to be expressed through. If you don’t act on that inspiration, the idea will find another fertile creative soul to express it. ↩