Writing Tip Wednesday: Revving up your Writing Habits

I’d like to share with you an article published recently by Writer’s Digest on revving up your writing habits.

Do you get distracted easily? Do you check your email or Facebook just one last time? Do you edit and re-edit what you wrote yesterday instead of writing new words today? Do you engage in negative self-talk?

Almost all of us authors do the above from time to time.

I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. To give you a glimpse, I’ve summarized the article’s helpful tips below to help you get into high gear and make the most of your writing sessions.

Get Clarity

Sometimes we have great ideas but aren’t sure about the characters, plot, structure, etc. Indecision about these things causes our projects to stall.

So, when planning your writing projects (or even while you’re writing) ask yourself:

• Who am I writing for?
• Hoes does this book, article, or blog post benefit readers?
• How do I make my story or subject unique and necessary in the marketplace?
• What do I want to accomplish by writing this piece?
• What’s the best structure for this project?
  • On this question, sometimes what starts out as a long novel turns into two or even three books. What starts out as a nonfiction tome on parenting becomes a short parenting guide that is easily digestible for busy parents. So be flexible on the book’s format.

Writer’s Digest indicates that the more clarity you have, the more easily and quickly you’ll write. I find this to be true.

And, as I mentioned in my post on the self-help book Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard, preload the decisions by making a short plan for your next writing day. What will you do? Write 500 words? Edit one chapter? Figure out a plot point? By planning, you’re already halfway there and you can start the work more easily.

Generate Enegy

Your levels of physical, emotional, and mental energy affect your ability to be productive and write.

When you are physically tired, your thoughts become negative, and you may feel sad or depressed. This makes it hard to write productively. But when you feel physically energized, your mindset becomes positive, you become happier, and you are better able to be productive and write.

Writer’s Digest recommends exercising regular, eating a healthy diet, drinking sufficient water, getting enough sleep, and reducing stress (in other words, all the normal stuff we already know about).

To those things I would add that in order to conserve your energy, stay away from energy vampires. Energy vampires are people (often narcissists) who suck your energy by demanding your time and attention. We all know people like this. They need constant attention and may even revel in taking your precious writing time away from you.

Stay away from those people, block them, don’t answer their calls! Even if people aren’t necessarily energy vampires, sometimes friends and family make demands on our time and pressure us to say yes to things when we want to say no. Say No more often, especially if it means that you will be frustrated and angry at not having enough time to write. Only YOU control your time. Don’t let anyone else control your time. People who are your true friends will understand when you say No and will not pressure you. Conserve your energy and conserve the writing muse!

Become Present

I read somewhere, Act like what you are currently doing is your only job. When you’re washing dishes, only wash the dishes. When you’re playing a board game with your kids, do ONLY that (don’t check your phone or think about the myriad of other things you need to do).

Writer’s Digest is spot on: Your ability to be present in any situation dictates to a large degree your outcome. Become present—conscious, aware, interested, and focused at the moment—and you’ll no longer be distracted by the past or the future, which means you can focus on the task at hand – writing.

The article recommends the following to stay more present:

• Meditate for even five minutes before you begin to write (apps such as Calm and Headspace are great!).
• Eliminate distractions (lock yourself in your office and tell your family that you don’t want to be disturbed. If you have kids, do this while they’re at school or at a friend’s house).
• Turn on music that helps you focus (I use the app Calm’s focus music).

When you become present, you remove mental obstacles from your path, so that your writing time is unobstructed.

Put your head down and write.

Act Boldly

I love this recommendation. If you know me, then you know that I’m a practicing astrologer and I’m really not comfortable with Aries energy. Aries energy is too impulsive; Aries act too much without thinking. However, I LOVE Aries’ boldness. They act without hesitating, without feeling insecure. They just act (for better or worse).

So take a page from Aries’ playbook and be bold. Writer’s Digest recommends that taking bold action every day allows you to continue toward the completion of your project despite any fear you might have.

Don’t stop and think about whether anyone will actually read what you write. If you stop and let the fear settle in, you won’t get anything done. Embrace your cardinal energy (not hard to do if you’re an Aries, Capricon, Cancer, or Libra, the cardinal energy signs), and get it done.

I read the following technique, and didn’t believe it at first, but it actually works. If you’re afraid to take action, just count backwards from 5 and take the action. The act of counting makes you focus. This worked for me when my son encouraged me to dive off a high diving board. I don’t like taking physical risks. But once I did it, I enjoyed it and then it wasn’t so scary.

To develop a boldness habit, you have to take bold action regularly. Writer’s Digest recommends the following to accomplish that goal:

• Develop a list of action items that will keep your project moving forward, and check off at least one item daily—even if it feels hard or scary.
• Write every day—even for 15 minutes.
• Do the scariest thing first.

I hope that is helpful. The complete Writer’s Digest article is here. As always, email me on maria@lawschoolheretic.com if you have any questions!