Getting in the habit

It’s been a little quite in these parts lately, I know, and you  may be wondering what that means. Am I writing? Am I dead? Have I given up the ghost?

Well, I’m not dead, though there are days I question that. Believe it or not, I’ve been working on a plan. Not an outline, but a plan, a guide.  And beginning May first, I started writing off that plan.

Well, almost. Actually, May first dawned with me still at the office from the day before, so that day was a bit of a wash when it came to writing, but the next day? All over that. Well, by “all over,” I mean I put a few words down. The next day, now that was more successful. And the day after that? Twice as much more successful, which isn’t saying much if we look at actual totals, but we’re looking at trends here, don’t get lost in the actual numbers!

A lot of it is because in watching writers I respect (and some I don’t), there is at least one common thread among all of them. Every day, they write. Maybe it’s 10 words, maybe it’s 10,000, but every day they sit down and make that effort. Most set out with goals – whether it be 500 or 2,000 words, or a dedicated time frame – writing for 4 hours a day, etc. That’s really something I’ve been missing in my life of late – I write in spurts, but I haven’t been making the concentrated effort to sit down and write. I’ve also been a little all over the map in what I’ve tried writing. Variety is fine – it’s the spice of life, after all – but I’ve been flipping between short stories and novels all year-long, and the demands of each are really quite different. Lately, I’ve been working on novel length writing, which is a different set of challenges than short fiction. There’s less to show for it and a greater chance of failure, but it also gives me the opportunity to create a complete world.

Plus it’s damned fun.

Now I won’t be posting my word counts up here, not for now. The old adage is that it takes 21 days for something to be a habit, and I’m only on day 5 (really 4) of daily writing (plus the 21 day thing is an unfounded myth). For now, imagine these great voids are because I’ve been lost down a well, and not because I’m struggling to get a couple dozen words down to be able to say I made an effort today.

Related articles

• Writing Routines: Word Counting and Other Habits (tor.com)
• Establishing a writing habit (popcorntheblog.com)
• Creatures of Habit: Mapping Out Writing Routines (torimacallister.wordpress.com)