Have You Made Writing a Habit Yet? Building a consistent writing practice takes time and effort

My actual, rather messy, desk.

A few months ago, I set the intention of building a consistent fiction writing practice. I wanted to make it a habit (see my first blog post).

I’m about 100 days into this new practice. Dare I call it a habit?

My original goal was small: 250 words or 30 minutes every day. In early May I increased my daily word count goal to 300. At the end of June, I upped it to 400 words.

So far, the words are coming fast. I don’t think I’ve spent more than 30 minutes yet reaching my word count goal.

While it’s important for me to work a little every day to make the habit stick, I don’t think it’s important for every writer to write every day.

We all have different responsibilities to schedule around. One writer friend spends her weekends writing and has written several novels this way.

What’s more important is that we show up to do the work. We don’t need to wait for inspiration. We don’t need to feel excited or energized (okay, yes, it helps, but it’s not necessary).

We’re adults. We know that work is not always fun. And writing ambitious fiction takes WORK.

Sample results from regularly showing up to do the work

Over the last 6 or 8 weeks, I’ve written about 15,000 words in character interviews. Those interviews have shed more light on my characters’ motivations, back stories, and voices.

Within those interviews, I’ve also written short scenes. They come about when the character I’m questioning shares conversations they’ve had or overheard with other characters.

I plan to come back to these interviews in the weeks and months ahead to mine them for scenes. When I do, I’ll have no idea which words were written when I felt inspired, excited, crabby, or tired.

Tips for establishing a new writing habit or keeping your existing one going

• Make your writing habit easy to achieve—especially if you’re trying to establish a new one. Success breeds success. If you know you can accomplish 30 minutes of writing time every other day from 8 to 8:30 p.m., then start there. If 30 minutes is intimidating, make it 20 or 15—whatever it takes to make it easy for you to accomplish!

• Reward yourself. I let myself go online to check email, a discussion board with friends, the Washington Post, and Facebook AFTER I achieve my daily goal. I’m also food-driven, like my dog Joanie, so a Dove dark chocolate could do the trick too. How do you like to reward yourself?

• Build in occasional breaks after your habit is established. Give yourself time to relax and recharge. I’m going on a short vacation next month, a few days away for a family reunion. I’ll take a break from writing then.

How’s your writing practice going? What are your tips? Tell me about it at bookcoach@micheleregenold.com.