I used to be what I call a binge writer. I’d write regularly for a while then fall off the writer wagon. The busyness, distractions, and other circumstances would crash in on my writing time. It got to the point I didn’t love writing anymore.
One day I read a book called You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) by Jeff Goins. This book actually made me look closer at my writing life. Causing me to decide to make some changes made a positive impact on me as a writer.
One of the most important changes I made was to begin writing every day. I started showing up at my desk and write every day for a minimum of 15 minutes. This doesn’t sound like much time but it didn’t take long for me to increase it to an hour a day.
Writing regularly is like exercise.
The more you do it the easier it gets.
What we do daily becomes a habit.
When you develop the habit of writing every day you’ll be surprised at how your writing improves.
In this post, I offer a few suggestions that will help you focus more on writing.
Make the commitment to write a little bit each day
If you are a writer you will need to commit to your writing life.
Make it a part of who you are.
One of the best ways to do this is to start calling yourself a writer.
Share the fact you are a writer with others.
When you get comfortable publicly calling yourself a writer something happens.
You begin to identify yourself as a writer.
You’ll commit to being a writer and do what writers do.
The practice of writing every day will help you grow as a writer.
The more you write and publish your work the more confidence you will achieve.
Show up every day even when you don’t feel like it.
Sometimes I just don’t feel like writing. When this happens there are other things I would rather do. Many times I gave into the ‘not wanting to write syndrome’ believing eventually motivation and inspiration would come.
The truth is it often doesn’t. We just have to show up and begin to write anyway. Even when things are happening in your life. When you don’t feel inspired. If there are other things you’d rather do.
Set aside a specific time frame to write.
Most of us live busy lives and pack so many activities into each day.
This makes many of us feel as if we don’t have time to write.
I struggled with this problem for quite some time.
Since I work online full time online I get busy doing tasks for others.
It took me a long time to figure out how to juggle all that I do efficiently.
Many times work piled up and I was left overwhelmed.
When this happens I’d become blocked for writing anything.
There never seemed to be any time left for me to write.
Until I began to consistently clear the time to write.
It is a discipline that became a habit over time.
Just me, my thoughts, and writing.
During this time I have a kitchen timer set to amount I’ve set aside to write.
I write at the beginning of my day now before all other things to do grab my attention.
When you figure out what works for you and adhere to that commitment writing daily becomes easier.
Publish your work.
Writing for yourself alone will not help you grow as a real writer.
You need to publish your work.
I promise the more you write, edit, and publish the better your writing will become.
You’ll get feedback on what you write. This too will help you grow.
What are you waiting for?
Go write, publish, and ship!
Helping you to establish a successful online presence.
Perfectly said, Cori. Developing the consistency to write is really important in blogging. Whatever we feel, irrespective of it, we should do the blogging thing, the secret of successful blogging. The editorial calendar is a great way to do things on time.
Thanks for talking about this, take care!
Hi Mudassir, Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
Consistently writing and keeping the up the pace of our blogs are crucial components to successful blogging.
Have a great blogging day!
Good tips Cori. We need show up daily to write; even if you do not feel like it. Daily writing rituals lead to long term writing success.
Hi Ryan, Thanks for reading and commenting. I learned the hard way the benefits of developing a consistent writing habit. Helps so much too in growing stronger as a writer/blogger.