A Writing Habit That Will Last

I used to be crippled by perfectionism. When I sit down to write now, the words just flow. It was easier than I ever imagined. I think I’ve finally created a writing habit that will last.

I am working on a fiction project, a big one for me. I’ve worked on it for a while. I have the idea, the major plot points, the characters, all the stuff. I think, I plot, I make notes all the time. When time comes to actually write, I write now. And I have been for a few months. But this wasn’t always the case.

It used to be so difficult. I would stare at the screen. I was overwhelmed by crippling perfectionism, imposter syndrome. I couldn’t get the words down on the page. I dreaded writing time. I loved my idea, I hated the words on the page. It became a spiral of procrastination. Writing time meant time for all the bad emotions, time to disappoint myself by not reaching my goal for the day, again. The gap between my writing goal and my actual word count kept growing. I couldn’t write. I knew I needed to make a change. Here’s what actually worked for me.

I started to write something every day. I had days where even a 250 word count goal on my project felt daunting. So I decided to start by keeping my daily word count goals, but allowing myself to write anything I wanted. And by that I mean anything. Some days I would write on my project, some days I would find a writing prompt and let my thoughts flow, most days I would just write whatever came to mind, teenage girl diary style. The point was not to make progress on my project. The point now was to regain what I had lost; that wonderful feeling of flow state, when my fingers run across my keyboard, and I can’t write fast enough. After 30 days, I had produced so many pages of diary, descriptions of every day events and feelings and nothingness. I had also gained confidence. A 1000 word count goal didn’t scare me at all anymore, I knew I could postpone writing all day long and still produce those words the last 30 minutes before midnight. I went to bed guilt free every night.

I started working more on my project after this, but I kept writing my “diary” as well. Its the first thing I do in the mornings…

Related posts:

We live in the hustle age. We have influencers like Gary V sharing and pushing this culture of “if you want it, go get it”. It will be hard, they say. But with enough work and dedication, it’s…

ShowMe is a subscription NFT social network built on Web3. The core function is subscription + PONA. Subscription supports anyone can create their Club without permission to make their community…

The globe is already experiencing the mild effects of climate change. The issue of climate change seemed like a story some few years ago but now it is not a story no more, it is happening. Maybe it…