Five Easy Ways to Rock Your Daily Writing Habit

Are you the type of writer who waits for that spark of inspiration to come and zap you into action? It feels amazing in the moment, but eventually the lightning fades and leaves you twitching. I used to be the same way. Like you, I spent years waiting for the right moment to write. 

But do you know what I've learned? That moment, when the heavens part and suddenly there are no distractions or obligations and inspiration pours from the sky in never-ending waterfalls? Yeah, it isn't coming. Disappointing, right? The perfect moment never comes. Or if it does, it comes because we make it come by putting in the work. A consistent writing habit will win out over flighty inspiration every time.

So how do we develop a writing routine that will stand the test of bad days, busy schedules, and dried-up wells of inspiration? ​Well, here are five things I've started doing that have worked wonders for my writing life. I've been able to build a consistent daily writing habit with minimal effort, and the returns have been amazing. I've made it about a third of the way through the rough draft of my current novel in just a month and a half. Keep reading to find out how you, too, can create and rock your daily writing habit!

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​1. Start Small
You wouldn't decide to run a marathon and then immediately go run it. If you did, you'd probably die, just like Pheidippides, the first man who ever ran one. No, you'd train for months, starting small and building up your endurance and speed over time. Writing, especially if you want to be a skilled lifelong writer, is a marathon. 

Some people write every day; some don't. Personally, if I miss one day, then I might as well abandon all hope of building a consistent habit, so I don't skip days if I can help it. But that may not be the case for you. Maybe you work better with rest days in between your writing days. Maybe you legitimately only have the time, physical energy, or mental bandwidth to do a few times a week. That's perfectly okay! Pick whatever works for you, but stick with a schedule. Consistency is key.

Commit to something small to start off with. I've committed to writing every day for at least thirty minutes. Even if I end up writing only fifty words or staring at the screen thinking about character motivations for half that time, that's still thirty minutes of intentional time spent on my writing. More often than not, though, those thirty minutes turn into an hour, an hour and a half, or even two hours. And the longer I've sustained this daily habit, the quicker I get into the flow each day, and the more my output has increased.

But if I had decided from the beginning that I was going to write for two hours every day, there's no way I could have sustained that. I probably would have given up after the second day. It wouldn't be fun. It wouldn't be comfortable. It would feel like a punishment to make myself sit when the words weren't coming. So start small and build from there. Don't get overeager or impatient. If all you can do right now is five minutes a day, that's still enough to build the habit, and then it can grow from there. ​

2. Make Yourself Comfortable
​We humans don't like to be uncomfortable. Think about it. When's the last time you stepped in a puddle of water with your socks on and didn't immediately go change your socks? If you feel a sense of dread or unease when you think about writing, ask yourself why that is. Most likely, it's because you've had sporadic or negative writing experiences in the past. 

We perform our best when we're comfortable and happy. So, what do you do when you want to encourage yourself to do something? Make it a positive experience for your brain. To this end, start each writing session by ensuring that each of your senses is experiencing something pleasant. 

Put something you find inspiring in your line of sight. Maybe it's a written quote from your favorite book. For me, it's a little plastic unicorn figurine. (It's actually a Uni from Neopets because, yes, I did play Neopets throughout my childhood and adolescence and still have this figurine for some reason—anyone else?)

Listen to music or sounds that help you focus or keep you calm. I've always been the type of person who needs total silence to focus—or so I thought. Now I listen to the same Yo-Yo Ma album every time I write, and the swelling of the cello evokes something in me I didn't think was possible. 

Smell something pleasant. I often diffuse essential oils. Some people light a candle before each writing session. This is a two-for-one because not only do you get to smell something nice but the act of lighting the candle becomes like a trigger for your brain: "I'm lighting this candle, so it must be time to write!"

Get something tasty on your tongue while you write—chocolate, tea, coffee, your favorite snack. Whatever it is, it will trigger dopamine in your brain. And the next time you go to write, your brain will say, "Oh! I like this writing thing. We always get chocolate! Let's keep doing it!"

And it all comes back to comfort. For touch, get cozy. Cuddle up with sweatpants and a blanket—or not, if it's hot. Put your body somewhere that feels nice and relaxing: the couch, the bed, the floor. Don't sit at the rigid kitchen table where you pay your bills. Find a spot that's only for your writing time. I have a saucer chair in the corner of my bedroom where I sit to write, and I always put my feet up on a cushion. It's become so automatic that I can hardly write with bent knees anymore!

Are you starting to see the pattern here? Make your brain and your body understand that writing is not a punishment—it's a reward! The more you do that, the easier it will be to get your writing in each and every day, and the easier the writing will flow.

3. Breathe and Focus
I don't know about you, but in the busyness and stress of life, I often forget to breathe. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps your thoughts are often so crowded that you can't sort through them all. But even if you got a flat tire or the dog puked on your favorite shoes, you don't want to carry all that baggage into your writing.

That's why I do a short meditation with deep breathing before every writing session. Making sure I stop at least once a day and take some deep breaths helps me clear my mind, reset my body, and focus exclusively on my writing. Here's the video I use. Try it; you might just feel like a completely new person when those three minutes are up! Then dig into your writing with renewed energy. ​

4. Don't Edit Yet
I've admitted to you before that I'm a perfectionist. I don't like to leave things a mess, which means that my natural tendency is to edit while I write. Maybe you're the same way. It's natural for writers to want to craft something beautiful. But first drafts, at least, aren't the place for perfection. They're usually messy and almost always terrible. Accepting that truth is one of the hardest parts of being a writer. 

Editing is definitely important, but it comes later. In the beginning, you just need to get the story out onto the page. Second-guessing every word you write is only going to hinder your progress and lead to frustration. Get out of your own way. Write by hand if you have to. But don't erase or a change a single word the first time around. You never know when it might come in handy later. 

5. Celebrate Small Victories
Goals are great tools for motivating you to achieve what you want in life. But if those goals take a long time to reach, you can get weary waiting for your hard work to pay off. That's why you shouldn't wait until you reach your goal to celebrate; do it now, and do it often. 

Give yourself milestones along the path to your overarching goal. Make them frequent. For example, if your goal is to write an 80,000-word draft, turn every 10,000 words into a milestone. When you reach those markers, give yourself a reward. Plan these out ahead of time so you have something to look forward to. The reward doesn't have to be big (think ice cream or a new outfit). But it can be big, especially for those big milestones, like halfway or when you reach your overall goal (think of that splurge item you've had your eye on but keep resisting). Don't wait until the end to congratulate yourself. Allow yourself to feel proud now.

You may not realize it, but you crave validation for your efforts, even from yourself. Reward yourself for even the tiniest of accomplishments, and you'll reinforce the good feelings your brain has about writing. Celebrating early and often will make you even more likely to continue on the path you've started down. 

I hope you find these suggestions as helpful as I have. May your words flow!