How To Get Into The Habit Of Writing Daily

People ask me, "how to be a writer?" My answer is simple. If you write, you already are a writer. It takes nothing but putting words to paper or screen to be a writer.

But most of us fail at making writing our career because we just can't develop the habit of writing regularly. I am not even saying daily; I am saying 'regularly'. And at the same time, it's better to write two hundred words each day than cramming a thousand words once a week.

Writing requires a constant nudge to create. If you're passionate about bringing your imagination to the material form, you'd be motivated and inspired to write on your own. But if you're writing for the sake of writing to earn or for freelancing, you might need to discipline yourself to start working on your projects and get them done.

There are some ways in which you can make writing daily a habit. Let's look at them.

1. Set Smaller Goals

If you're a beginner or even a pro, setting small goals is always a great option to keep yourself going without feeling exhausted or wanting to give up before finishing your goal. Setting realistic goals have much more chances of making you actually want to sit down and write.

5 minutes a day? A page a day? 100 words a day? A poem a day? Does any of these goals feel too much? No? Right. 

2. Don't Be Too Hard on Yourself

I repeat it whenever I write articles related to productivity or achieving goals: Don't be too hard on yourself. It's life and things come up. It's okay the circumstances made you skip your goal on a day, but make sure that you catch up with your pending goal within 2 or 3 days by breaking and adding your pending task to the consecutive day's goals. 

For example, you have set one page a day goal for a week. If you missed working on a particular day due to some reason, then write one and a half pages for the next two days. In this way, you'll be able to catch up with your previous goals with a little extra effort.

Don't beat yourself up for not reaching all your goals but don't be too lenient either and go days without writing at all.

3.  Switch Between Genres If You Feel Exhausted

Writing daily doesn't mean you have to stay stuck in that short story which is hard to take forward. Switch genres and try other things. Write poetry for a change, write ideas for new stories, poems, articles. Do some research online.

I am working on a poetry book as well as a novel. Writing poetry book is fun because I keep ideas noted at the back of the notebook for poems, but writing novel becomes tough when you just can't figure out where the story is taking you. I keep switching between both and come back to the other when I feel that I should not procrastinate anymore and find a solution to the hurdles I'm facing in one of the books. Find the balance, find the fun.

There's a lot you can do to stay in touch with the practice of writing and make this journey fun.

4. Avoid Procrastination and Perfection

Procrastination is not always due to laziness, it's more of a mental state. I often procrastinate because I'm lacking ideas or I'm afraid that I won't write as good as I want to write.

I haven't touched the notebook I'm writing my novel in since so many days just because I don't know how to proceed further. I'm afraid I'd mess things up in the story. I'm procrastinating not because of laziness to get things done but to avoid messing it up. But on one fine day, when I'd beat this fear and be ready to write absolutely anything that comes to my mind, I'd end up writing pages after pages. Sometimes, I feel that it's not me writing the story; it's the story writing itself through me.

If I go a few more weeks without writing in it, I might never want to go back to it ever again. That would be no less than a sin. I regret the projects I left mid-way. So, defeating the fear of perfection and avoiding further procrastination is my only way out.

Sit with a journal and ask yourself: what is it that makes you procrastinate on writing and putting your goals to tomorrow?

5. Keep A Journal

I cannot stress it enough. A journal is your go-to tool for all your writing needs. Have ideas? Write in a journal. Something not making sense? Put it in the journal and see what's wrong. Need to make character sketches? Journal. Want to do a brain dump? Journal. Found interesting quotes/excerpts in a book or on the internet? Note them in a journal with the name of their author.

A journal is a place where you keep all the information safely. A journal is a place where you can talk to yourself without the fear of judgement. Everything that needs your attention now or later should be added to your journal. It doesn't necessarily have to be a notebook, there's your notes app, at your fingertips all the time.

I have a commonplace journal for keeping all these things. You may read about it here.

6. Use a Habit Tracker

If you already use a habit tracker, then add 'writing' to your list and don't go to sleep until you've ticked it off your habit tracker.

If you don't already use a habit tracker but want one for your writing habit, pick a journal and keep it near your bed and make a box in it, divided into 30/31 small boxes, one of each day of the month. Tick the day off it after you've reached your goal for the day. Before going to bed each night, review your habit tracker and see if you have ticked off writing from it. If yes, sleep peacefully. If not, pick up your writing tools and write at least for a few minutes even if you can't reach your goal for the day. After all, "something is better than nothing."

7. Don't Worry About Editing

Editing can always be done later. When it's time for writing, focus solely on writing. When we are too focused on finding out faults in our work, it becomes frustrating to keep writing. Hence, give yourself permission to write bad... but bad to only an extent that can be fixed later.

8. Start a Social Media Page or Blog

When you commit to sharing your work even if you have one person reading your blog or social media page, you become responsible for putting out content consistently.

Now, for putting out content, you need to keep making more of it, right? It doesn't matter what you share, it doesn't always have to be short stories or poems, people are more than happy to read your experience as a writer; they would love to read all things they find relatable and valuable.

You don't have to share everything you write. I know that a lot of writing is too personal to be shared and a lot of other writing is something we don't find good enough to share. But the need to share will help you create at least one out of ten shareable pieces. You can keep the rest 9 pieces on the pages of your diary, away from the world's eyes.

I was never this regular in writing until I started my Instagram writing page. I hardly wrote 2-3 blogs in a year until I committed to blogging every Saturday in 2020. I have written more posts this year than I had done in the previous 7 years of this blog. Nobody gives you deadlines when you're a creative writer, you have to be accountable for your actions.

9. Find The Topics That You're Passionate About

You cannot start writing about web-developing if your interest is in lifestyle articles. There are so many types of writing that I cannot even make a list of them. You need to find your niche, the topics you're interested in, the subjects that you have knowledge in or are ready to gain knowledge about.

Sit with a pen and paper and write down all the areas of your life that you feel confident about. That you can share your experiences about. Are you ready to e vulnerable? Your writings are going to reflect who you are. When you have answered these questions, no one can stop you from producing great content. You would want to write it all out because that's what sets your soul on fire.

10. Find The Best Time Of The Day

We all have a time of the day when we feel most productive and comfortable in doing important tasks. I always prefer nights because that's when everyone's asleep and I can work in total silence. Once my concentration is gone, it's gone for hours.

It's important to know which time works best for you, then block that time period for your writing session.

11. Choose Writing Tools That Call Out To You

It's best to use a notebook or writing app that makes you want to keep writing, that entices your soul. If you're using a notebook that doesn't make you feel good, you'd just want to get done with your writing session daily. But if you're using tools that make you want to keep working with them, you won't even want the writing session to end. You'd wait to get to back to your tools as soon as possible. Let your writing tools be so sacred and beautiful that they feel like they're calling you.

Also, keep your writing tools within your reach. If you're lying on your bed and your writing tools are somewhere in the other corner of the room, you might just want to skip writing rather than leaving your cost bed and get up to fetch your notebook.

12. Declutter Your Writing Area

Our physical state affects our mental state. It's important to keep your writing area clean and organised. A cluttered and messy space has the ability to cause stress and laziness. Keep unwanted things away from your writing space. Keep your writing area sacred, spacey, and fresh.

I usually write in my room but when my room is messy, I simply pick up my notebook, pen, iPad, and phone and go sit at the desk or dining table to do the writing job. My mind becomes a mess in a messy space. When I don't feel like writing at all, I end up organising and decluttering my room which, somehow, relieves me of stress and makes me want to get back to writing.

13. Read. Read. Read a Lot

I should have made this point first, but the first and last points are always important. You need to read a lot to be good at writing. Reading helps you understand the language more, the grammar more, the writing styles, expands your vocabulary and what not? I cannot start adding the benefits of reading here else the post would be too long, but I'll write another post which will help you make reading a habit as well.

Did you find this post helpful? If you're reading this, thank you for sticking with me till the end. Keep writing, keep sharing, keep making the world a better place.

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Here are some of the other posts you might love to read:

9 Ways To Stay Determined To Achieve Your Dreams
Beating Writer's Block With Writing Prompts

You may find me on Instagram at @meetlife240

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