Build the Writing Habit

Here’s a question I see often:

I haven’t put anything down in a long long time. It’s easy to write down ideas, but I haven’t been able to put down any words. I tell myself today will be the day I’ll start my book, but then it slips away and when it’s over, I hate myself. What can I do?

It sounds like you have trouble getting started. One possible fix lies in creating a frictionless way of beginning. This can consist of two tasks:

1. Reframe your problem. You’re not resisting writing, so much as that you haven’t gotten into the habit of writing.

We don’t have an automatic scheduling system hardwired into our brain. We react to stimuli. We work at a certain time because we’re fired if we don’t. We talk to our spouse because we’re supposed to. We diaper the baby because it’s whining and smells bad. If we don’t let the dog out in time … you can imagine the rest.

So you’re not writing. Not because you’re a bad person, or incompetent, or lacking spine. You haven’t built the habit of it into your day. You haven’t found the tool that works for you.

That’s important. You’ve heard of writers who seem to have a great work ethic? If you probe their life, you’ll find that there’s an origin point. They were punished by poverty. They escaped a terrible home life. They were worked by nuns bearing sharp, hard rulers.

That’s important to know, because your life is not their life. The easier your life is, the easier it is not to work. Anthropologists observing hunter-gatherer tribes estimate they spend only a few hours a day “working” to feed themselves. Farmers work hard all day, but their labor varies with the seasons. There’s less demand on them during the summer (when the crops are planted and growing) and the winter (when the fields lie fallow).

That’s not you; that’s humanity.

Authors face this problem when they become successes. Take Mickey Spillane. After he became a best-selling author, he’d spend his days on a beach in South Carolina, fishing or watching the waves. He’d think about writing, but nothing came up that satisfied him.

“Then one day I got a call from my accountant. ‘Mickey,’ he said, ‘it’s not desperate or anything, but the money’s starting to run low. It might be a good idea to generate some income.’

“So I thanked him and hung up the phone, and I took a walk on the beach, and bang! Just like that, I started getting ideas!”

So stop beating yourself up. You’re like a lot of writers.

2. Find a tactic that works for your needs. A typical tactic is to work early in the day. Or set your alarm for 30 minutes before you’re supposed to walk up. That has the added advantage of putting you under a time limit with a punishment if you fail: Don’t get the work done, berate yourself the rest of the day.

You’ll either knuckle down and work, or decide that Amway might be a good option after all.

If your schedule is fluid, give yourself a word count goal. Make it small (remember, frictionless). Fifty words of something, anything, but it HAS to be 50 words. More is better, but even if you have nothing, tell yourself that 50 words of anything is a success.

How hard is that? Piece of cake. And set a goal of doing it every day for a week. Start small.

The goal is not to accumulate words, but to force your mind to create a habitual act. There are studies out there that say it takes 21 days to establish a habit, but lately further studies have disproved that. In fact, it can take several months to integrate a task into your daily routine, to the point that when you stop doing it, you’ll miss it.

So take it slow at first: 50 words, 7 days. Establish in your head that you’ll do 50 words a day. You may even want to limit yourself: 50 words minimum, 300 words tops. You don’t want to write 3,000 words the first day, then take the week off. The goal here is consistency; consistent daily production of work.

When you feel comfortable, you can push on to drafting a story, or outlining a novel.

Third.

Wait a minute, what happened to “two things”?

I just thought of a third: Write down your daily production. A calendar page on the wall. A daily diary. Something you see that shows you’re making progress.

Now you have the third important component of building a habit: feedback.

It’s all about accountability and your ego. If you’re slacking, you’ll know it. If you tell your spouse or friend every day what you’re doing (or not), you’ll be motivated to keep going.

So those are the three elements I’ve found useful: reframing, frictionless goal, and feedback.

I’ll also throw in a fourth task.

What happened to three things? Quiet, you, I’m rolling.

Consequences. Give yourself a deadline with a reward to celebrate finishing something.

Whenever we publish a book, we go out to dinner. We don’t go to restaurants otherwise, so a trip to the Indian restaurant, or the crepe restaurant is a special occasion. Celebrate your finished books with something memorable, and you’ll be motivated to create more.

That’s the feedback loop of writing: schedule, goal, feedback, and reward.