I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, but I love goals and learning to take small steps toward consistent new habits. After all, small steps lead to big results, right? At least that's what they say.

What better time to start learning than a fresh new year?

Writing habits can prove a little tricky, though! In our busy lives, time for creative work often feels like a luxury or some unattainable “perfect world” situation. Writing gets pushed aside for other more pressing concerns because we feel like there’s always tomorrow.

Hopefully there are many tomorrows in which to write or be the coveted “writer” you’ve always dreamed of being, but having a solid writing habit will make your life better today.

Why Writing Habits Matter

The bottom line for writing habits is: your dreams matter.

What you want to do and who you want to be is important! It might seem to get lost in the humdrum of daily life as a spouse/caregiver/hardworking employee - and whatever the other roles are in your life - but your creativity is a part of who you are. Because you know this part of you, it’s worth creating a writing habit.

There are 3 main ways writing habits benefit you in everyday life:

Create Consistency Like other aspects of your life, developing a habit will create consistency for your writing and creativity. This means showing up to your writing regularly, even when it might not feel “inspired.” What happens when there’s consistency? Growth! Progress! Pride in your hard work! All the good things you want for your writing.
Facilitate Progress So you want to publish a book? Start a writing business? Simply enjoy your life more? Developing a writing habit can help you do all of these things. When you show up, there’s no way to not see progress. (i.e. no more moping on Facebook for an hour every night about the fact that you “should have been” writing because you’ve done it already!)
Boost Confidence There’s nothing in the world quite like finishing a particularly exciting scene or storyline. It’s one of those things writers crave: to see their words on the page and know they did it! Creating a writing habit and showing up to your writing regularly will give you confidence in your skills and abilities, even if it starts out by the sheer fact that you’re practicing them on a daily/weekly basis. Long-term, your confidence about being able to start and complete new projects will grow. You’ll know you can do it because you have done it - and because you’re a badass unstoppable dream-getter.

What is a Writing Habit?

So, writing habits sound awesome, right? You’re kind of a big deal, and the stories you have to share with the world are, too.

But what exactly is a writing habit? After all, many of us are incredibly busy. Does a writing habit mean we have to write every day?

A writing habit is simply a routine you create for your writing. A way to establish a practice that helps you write. You don’t necessarily have to write every day - I don’t write creatively every day - but you should write frequently.

Writing habits and routines include aspects like:

Environment - where you sit, what’s around you, smells, sounds, temperature of the room, etc.
Physical self - how you prepare your body to write, sitting, laying, clothing you’re wearing, etc.
Headspace - how you prepare your mind and emotions to write, music, open-mindedness, excitement, etc.

The great thing is that your writing habit is unique to you! While it’s helpful to read about other writers’ habits and maybe even try them out, there’s no set in stone way that you have to build your habit so that it works. You know you best, which means you can design a habit that helps you better than anyone else could.

8 Simple Steps to Creating Next-Level Writing Habits

Have a writing session. Before you make any changes to what you do now, you need to figure out what exactly you do. Take some time to have a writing session in the way you know works best for you right now. For instance, when I have a writing session for my novel, I go into my office (with no dogs in tow) and I light a little tea light on my desk. I open up my Google doc and read through a couple of scenes to get into the flow of the story before I try to write anything new. Sometimes I lightly edit the scenes I read, or fix typos, but my main focus is to feel the characters and live with them for a little while so I can create more of their world.
Analyze what made your writing session successful. When you’ve done your session (I hope it’s awesome!), you need to figure out what worked. What made you feel good? What made you get excited to write? What really got your creative juices flowing?
1. Consider Environment: the physical space around you, the sounds, the smells, the lighting, your posture, distractions you felt, feelings in your body, your clothes - anything that you notice that affected your writing session from a physical perspective
2. Consider Mindset: what were your initial thoughts, why did the distractions come up, any stresses, any excitement, your mental space, your emotional space, your feeling when session was complete - anything you notice that affected your writing session from a mindset perspective
3. Consider What Went Wrong: Sometimes writing sessions just don’t go as planned. If this happened to you, think about what went wrong using the same points as what went right, that way you can mitigate them when you write again
Set a small writing goal. Once you’ve thoroughly analyzed your last writing session, set a small goal for the next session. Don’t set any goals that are outlandish, like that you want to write the next 50 pages (unless that’s how much you already do in a typical writing session). Think about things like: “I want to finish this chapter” or “I want to rewrite the ending of this scene so it’s more convincing.” Remember, small progress is progress. The more small goals you set and achieve, the better you’ll feel about your bigger goals. I like to set my small goals about finishing particular sections of my novel - sometimes that’s 2 pages, and sometimes it’s 10. I rarely write more than one section at a time.
Schedule time to write. Once you’ve got your goal, set a time to work on it! I would encourage you to pick a time within the next week.
Have another writing session. Remember when you analyzed your last session? Take as many of those pieces as you can and recreate the session. If your session didn’t go as planned last time, consider what went wrong and do your best to change or eliminate those things from this session.
Compare the two sessions. Now that you’ve done two writing sessions, one “normal” and one with a small writing goal, consider:
1. What’s the same?
2. What’s different?
3. What could make the next session even better?
Schedule another time to write. This is the “habit” part of your new writing habit - showing up regularly!
Follow through on your schedule and reflect each time. Don’t let your writing sessions become the thing you keep putting off. Remember, your creativity and writing dreams are important! You don’t push other important stuff off from week to week, do you? When you show up and reflect on what’s working, and what’s not, you’ll be able to consistently plan effective writing sessions for yourself and create a next-level writing habit that’s tailored to you.

Next Steps

So that’s it! There’s nothing overtly complicated about creating a writing habit that works for you.

What you need to do now is:

Do those first writing sessions & reflect. Don’t skip the reflection! That’s key to being able to create your new habit.
Show up to your new habit. Be intentional about making time to write, even if it's at the crack of dawn before everyone’s awake or at night when everyone’s asleep.
Get help and accountability. If you need help figuring out what might work for you, or you just want some accountability (because we know that’s helpful!) click here to read how I work with writers just like you! I love love love helping writers get set up with new habits, and I know we can work together to find what works best for you.

I challenge you to do a writing session within the next 7 days and stick to it.

Have you developed a writing habit before? How did it go? Do you have specific steps that help you write? I’d love to hear about your experiences and recommendations! Find me on social media or drop a comment below.

Let’s chat because you, my friend, are on your way to great writing.

The Key to Creating Next-Level Writing Habits