The #1 Key to Making Progress on Your Writing Journey
There are many important elements to making progress on your writing journey, but the number one key is to create a consistent habit of writing. This seems like such a no-brainer, and yet most writers consistently struggle with making writing a habit.
A regular habit of writing is crucial to making progress on your writing journey. You’ll be able to make forward progress on your writing journey because a habit of writing builds momentum and cultivates positive creative energy.
Today I’m discussing five excuses writers use to explain why they can’t form a writing habit and suggestions on how to reframe those limiting beliefs so you can move forward on your writing journey.
Let’s hop to it!
Habit formation is directly linked to self-determination. The good news is that everyone can be trained to be self-determined. So even if you consider yourself the ambivalent sort, you can learn how to be more motivated to accomplish your goals.
Your first order of business is to figure out what exactly is preventing you from forming a regular writing habit. Anything that gets in the way of you writing is a limiting belief—it’s not set in stone, it’s not impossible to counteract.
Below are the most common reasons writers use to explain why they can’t form a writing habit.
“I HAVE TO DEAL WITH TOO MANY INTERRUPTIONS.”
From what I’ve seen around writers’ circles, “interruptions out of my control” is the top reason writers say they struggle with establishing a daily writing habit. I totally get it. As a stubborn Scot, I’m quite good at sticking with a decision once I make it. But no matter how stubborn I am, if there is an external factor out of my control that detours me, then the writing is usually affected negatively.
Key phrase: out of my control. We need to be brutally honest with ourselves. Is that external factor truly, 110% out of our control? And if it is, have we done absolutely everything within our control to pivot so that we still get the writing done (even if it means shifting it to another time of the day, or doubling up on a session later in the week)? Or have we called it a loss and moved on?
Even with interruptions out of our control, that doesn’t mean we have to lose that day of writing entirely. As I mentioned above, shifting our session to another time of day or tacking it onto another session later in the week, or writing during a so-called “non-writing day” can help us get right back into the writing saddle.
This is my first counter-point: If you’re allowing interruptions on the fly to negatively impact your writing, then why can’t you revamp your schedule on the fly? I mean, if your schedule is that penetrable, then it stands to reason it is also flexible.
Start there. For every interruption you allow to mess with your writing schedule, shift that session to another time/day of your week. If you must, then sacrifice an hour of television, social media, or gaming—any pastime where you are passively developing your creativity.
Some people can feel overwhelmed or intimidated by tracking progress on a daily basis. A consequence to that though is when you don’t see immediate results, it’s easy to feel like your efforts aren’t working and you’re more likely to self-sabotage.
If this sounds like you, then it may help to strategize your writing goals across a span of months rather than days or even weeks.
For example, say you wanted to write 1K words every week, but you kept falling short and now you’re starting to think you’re no good at writing. Try to broaden your perspective so you don’t feel like you’re constantly under the gun.
Plan instead to write a total of 24K words in a six-month span, in whatever frequency works for you. This will help you from getting too hung up on falling short week to week and will enable you look at the bigger picture of 24K instead.
To help you stay on track with a long-range goal like that, check in with yourself every week. How many words have you written? How many more to go? Journaling your progress and how you’re feeling is really helpful to remind yourself of your end goal, and what kinds of methods are helping you to be successful.
“I HAVE NO TIME TO WRITE.”
Interestingly, when we allow interruptions out of our control interfere with our writing schedules, then we lose precious writing time. Huh. Double-whammy of excuses. Can we make it any more difficult for ourselves?
If you have an overload of chores or other kinds of responsibilities, and they’re leaking into the cracks of your writing session, then fill those cracks! This isn’t about not having time to write. It’s about not scheduling your time properly. Take another look at your weekly schedule and restructure it!
Writers who say they have no time to write shouldn’t have time to watch television or hang out on TikTok. It’s all about your priorities. If you want to write desperately enough, then you’ll make the time to do so. It’s actually kind of magical. Try it.
“I’M NOT ENJOYING IT AS MUCH AS I WANT TO.”
Another reason many writers have trouble forming a writing habit is because they are uninspired + unmotivated due to the sheer amount of blood, sweat, and tears sacrificed to the cause. Sometimes writing can be so much drudgery that it can suck the joy out of the process.
You need to understand your WHY. Why are you a writer? Why are you writing this particular story? Why does it need to be written now? It’s much easier to make a commitment to hard things when we have a clear picture of what we want at the end.
Think of something you do habitually, whether it’s how you make breakfast, or the route you take to work, or opening your emails. Why do you do these things every day? Because you have a preconceived notion of an outcome:
I make breakfast so I will have food to eat.
I take the same route to work so that I know I’ll get there on time.
I open my emails because I love hearing from other people.
The more positive the outcome, the more likely you'll make your behavior a habit because you’ll be enjoying the process. Some writers who struggle with making a habit of writing aren’t getting immediate gratification at the end of each session.
For some writers, it might be enough to see that they have increased their word count. But that outcome isn’t enough to motivate all writers. If that’s you, then you need to set up another positive outcome (reward) to help motivate you to write every day, and because every writer might have a different idea of what constitutes a positive outcome, you need to tune into your natural writing forces.
Side note: I do think Reward/Consequence is an amazing strategy to help us form habits, however, it does depend on your personality. If you’re only doing it for the chocolate at the end of the session, then what’s the quality of your writing looking like? Food for thought . . .
“I DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.”
This is also related to feeling unmotivated + uninspired, but I’m tackling it from a different angle. Avoidance of doing something hard, tough, or challenging.
Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to tend to a dreaded chore, task, or expectation once you get started and are thoroughly engaged?
For example, I dread structured exercise, or going to the gym. (I much prefer walking on the beach or hiking in the mountains, but that isn’t always possible. Still, I must exercise.) I have to drag myself to the gym or force myself to start my routine, and I’m grumpy about it.
But then, after about fifteen minutes, something interesting occurs. I have found a rhythm and feeling good about my decision. The adrenaline has kicked in. I am engaged, committed, and willing to see it through to the end.
I find this to be true of sitting down to write. Sometimes, the anticipation, the getting to the page, is worse than the actual act of writing. But if you give yourself sufficient warm-up (probably 15 minutes or so), you may find that your mood actually shifts—suddenly you’re writing for an hour without realizing it.
Warming up is a natural energizer. Why do athletes warm up before strenuous practice? It isn’t just to avoid injury. Warming up gets the blood going. Increased blood flow increases our energy and elevates our mood. There’s a whole biological response that kicks into effect with simple warm-up exercises. So if you’re worried you “got nothing” when you sit down for your writing session, don’t you dare try to get back up until you at least spend fifteen minutes free-writing. You will be surprised at the results.
“I’M NOT REALLY GOOD AT IT.”
Many of us don’t want to admit that fear is at the root of pretty much every excuse we come up with. Fear of writer’s block. Fear of completing the project. Fear of not completing the project. Fear of quality. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of embarrassing our family. Fear of embarrassing ourselves. Fear of bad reviews. And on and on. This fear is so real that we invent reasons to not write:
I have piles of laundry to take care of.
I must walk the dog.
Grocery shopping needs to be done.
I’ll write tomorrow.
I’m exhausted.
Ideas aren’t coming today.
Ideas are coming, but they suck.
My novel sucks.
I suck.
I suck so bad not even time wants to be my friend.
Those reasons aren't worthy enough to put aside your writing. Sure, laundry needs to be washed and the dog taken care of, but if you’re doing those things during your writing session instead of writing, then fear (or some relation to fear, like resistance, avoidance, anxiety, etc) has the upper hand.
A writing session needs to be devoted to writing. Nothing else. If your novel isn’t bringing you joy, then write smut. If you’ve got writer’s block, then chill out with a writing prompt. If you don’t like what you’ve just written and can’t bear to continue on, journal through those feelings.
Writing can take many forms. You aren’t shackled to the one and only project that you picked for that day. Go rogue and write something else. Just freaking write.
If your Inner Critic is looming over you, then write them a letter. Or journal through that self-doubt, reminding yourself that no one ever accomplished anything difficult by not taking a risk!
Once you can figure out why you can't form a daily writing habit, you'll be able to strategize methods to help you find your best system so that you can start writing every day and get those projects done!
DO YOU HAVE DIFFICULT FORMING A DAILY WRITING HABIT?
WHAT ARE SOME STRATEGIES YOU USE?
HAVE A WRITERLY DAY!