Getting Into the Habit
For as long as I have been a writer, I don’t think I’ve ever consciously gotten into the habit of writing every single day. Even when I was blogging everyday, (which for myself, I don’t really consider “writing”—as it does not further my work-in-progress), I often would write several posts in a single sitting and simply schedule them for the rest of the week. The idea of having writing days and having to schedule writing seemed, and still does seem, so foreign to me. Writing is, and always has been for me, something that has felt very natural. It’s not like a job that you have to just sit down and do, it isn’t scheduled it just… happens. Sure, I’d feel guilty when I wasn’t writing because I felt as though I wasn’t really working, but it never ever felt like work, because I love it.
This month however, as the clock ticks down towards my deadline, I’ve come to realize that if I don’t teach myself to find time to write every day, even if only a little bit, I’m never going to get the rest of this draft finished in time.
It’s a tricky thing, getting yourself to write a little everyday, but I’ve sort of given myself a system wherein, I write the sentence I left off on in my notebook in the morning before work, then I write as much as I can on my break, then I write a little more at lunch, and then I try to type everything up that afternoon when I get home. I try whenever possible to write more during those times, and obviously my days off I try to devote as much time to writing as possible, but sometimes you need a break to keep your sanity. This break, can occasionally lead to unintentional hours spent on Netflix, or surfing my favorite Apple blogs. I rarely get bogged down on Twitter like I used too, and yet again I can’t remember my StumbleUpon login info which I think is for the best.
If your anything like me, my advice would be, hide your browser window, turn off your wifi if you can (I like to listen to my writing playlist on Spotify, and occasionally RainyMood which makes this impossible) and just write. Try and make a routine for yourself that you can stick too. If you have extra time in the morning, write then, the evening, the afternoon, whatever it takes, just… write a little bit sporadically throughout the day and you’d be surprised how much you’ll have written when you’re actually at home typing it all up. I’ve actually grown a renewed appreciation for writing longhand. My penmanship hasn’t really improved, in fact the faster the ideas come the worse my handwriting gets, however, there’s something pleasurable in the tactile act of writing by hand.
