Get in the Habit

The days will be getting progressively longer between now and the summer solstice. Longer days means more time, at least more daylight time. Why not use this extra daylight to start a writing habit? Here are some tips to get you started, which can be followed any time of year.

Be realistic

Given your current responsibilities, what’s realistically possible? What might have to give? Take a typical week and write down everything you did each day at the end of the day. When the week is over, see where your time goes. Then make some radical adjustments.

Set a short-term goal

Write fifty words a day for a week or two pages over a weekend. Increase your word or page goal the following week. Do the same week three. At the end of week three, pretend you’re Goldilocks and choose the word or page count that seems just right and stick with it for a while.

Try the “egg-timer” approach

Set the timer on your phone for 30 minutes and draft a micro-story, -poem, or -essay. Aim to produce a rough draft during those 30 minutes rather than just free-writing. If the draft is something you feel inspired to continue, then keep setting the timer daily, or every couple of days, until you have a solid draft. If you don’t feel inspired to continue, draft a new micro during your next 30-minute session.

Touch your work every day

If you can’t or don’t want to write every day, you can still create some continuity by “touching” whatever you’ve been working on. Set aside time, daily, and read over your prose or poetry in progress to keep it fresh in your mind. And be sure to come up with a way–notebook, note app, voice memo–to capture any aha moments that come to mind when you’re not actively writing.

Let others know

We assume the significant others in our lives know how important writing is to us, but do they really know? Have you come right out and said it? Be sure to let friends and family know, and give them the details of your current habit so they can help support it and you.

Don’t beat yourself up

If at first you don’t succeed, begin again. There’s no need to be hard on yourself. Reflect on what you’ve tried so far and come up with a plan that’s more reasonable or a better fit for you and your days.

Make a long-range plan

Once you get some semblance of a habit going, think about your current writerly aspiration: a short story to send out for publication in six months; a poetry collection in two years; a novel in this lifetime?

Once you name your aspiration, sit down and do the math. What kind of commitment will it take? Writing daily, on the weekends, taking classes, etc. Then come up with a long-range plan to help yourself follow through.