How to Build Your Writing Practice from the Ground Up
Starting and maintaining a writing practice can be scary. Building a habit of any kind is hard. There's a reason why so many books have been written on that topic!
Here are some of the things that have helped me in my own writing practice.
Start small
In the book Atomic Habits, the author, James Clear, asks, "What can you do every day?" Basically, what is the smallest thing you can do to work towards your practice every day?
I know I can write for ten minutes on any given day. Even when I don't feel like doing it, if I set my timer for ten minutes, I will write words. Are they good words? Only time and revision will tell. But I did the bare minimum for my day. Often, I'll be in the middle of a sentence when the timer goes off, so I keep writing. Suddenly, half an hour has gone by, and I've done more than my goal.
However, what matters, according to James Clear, is that you form the habit. Consistently doing ten minutes a day of writing will be more helpful to you than sporadically writing for five hours every couple weeks. (That is, if your goal is to write consistently or daily. That, of course, is not the only way to write.)
So what's the bare minimum you can do every day?
Forgive yourself
Some days, you won't be able to get your bare minimum. It sucks, but it happens. That's okay. If you can forgive yourself and keep going, you'll see that you're still on the journey.
Letting go of the idea of not breaking the chain can be hard. And it's so easy to see one slip up as starting from scratch again, but it's not. I've been doing a thirty-day yoga challenge on YouTube, and I haven't managed to get to the mat every day. Heck, I missed a whole week and going back was the last thing I wanted to do. But I forgave myself and decided I wanted to do all thirty days, no matter how long it took me.
It takes courage to say, "Yeah, I know I messed up/missed a few days, but I'm sticking around anyway." Acknowledge it, know you're tenacious, and keep going.
Expand your definition of writing
Writing comprises so much more than just putting fingers to keys. There's thinking and imagining and working through problems. When you expand your definition of writing, you expand how you see your goals.
Sometimes, you need to focus on your word count and putting words on the page. Absolutely. But if creating a moodboard or a playlist keeps your creative energy up, that counts as work toward your project. Celebrate it as such!
Find a group of writers to cheer you on
Writing can be a lonely project. Just you, sitting in a room, typing away. That works for some people, but joining a writing group can be helpful not only for your motivation but also for talking through writer problems.
There are many kinds of writing groups out there. There are groups where you provide feedback on each other's work, groups where you meet up and discuss your work, and groups where you meet up and write. These groups can be online or in person. No matter what kind of writing group you're looking for, I know there's one out there for you.
If you're looking for a group to write with and then discuss your work, check out One Page at a Time (OPAAT). We write for forty-five minutes every Friday at noon Eastern Time and then chat for a bit about how it went. We'd love to have you join us!
No matter how you structure your writing practice, the two most important things to remember are
it has to work for you, and
you are capable of showing up—and that’s what matters.