I have somehow lost the writing habit. I used to have it, but now it’s gone. Once upon a time I could write at least one blog post a day. Back then it felt like there was a lot to write about. The topics were often work related, but I would also write about other things of interest to me. In recent years however I have not been able to recapture that discipline, or level of interest.
Can it be regained? I hope so.
From what I’ve read, writing is a practice. You do not have to wait for the muse to come. You just write. The best way to practice writing is simply to write. I guess that’s obvious to most people. I think however that I started getting into difficulties by worrying too much what I was writing. I’d worry that I wasn’t being interesting, or that others knew more than me so why should I write. I started too to worry that I didn’t quote every single source, reference, or link. That got to be exhausting after a while, and that made it increasingly difficult to start. I also fell into the trap that I expect many fall into, that whatever I was writing wouldn’t be perfect. All were just excuses really. So gradually my practice stopped.
In order to get back into the writing seat I thought I’d see what advice other writers could offer. I almost bought one or two books on the subject from Amazon, but the reviews convinced me otherwise. Basically, they said, any guide on how to write centre around some simple instructions.
- Write often, ideally every day.
- Establish a writing routine, ideally the same time of each day.
- If needed, start small. Write for just a few minutes, maybe 20, every day. Or if so inclined or when writing to a deadline, set a word limit and write until the word limit is reached.
- Write first. Edit later. Or I like Ernest Hemingway’s advice, “write drunk, edit sober”. Perhaps not the best advice if you plan to write early morning every day, but each to their own. Cheers!
Optional extras include setting up a place to write, and making a writing commitment to others to keep motivated. For me, I’d like to feel able to write in different places at different times, so I don’t want to restart my writing habit by feeling that I have to be sitting in a certain place. I have to write at work as part of my job, although I’ve found that very difficult too. And I’d like to write at home for pleasure. And as for sharing, I’m happy to do that after the writing is done by posting to one of my blogs. Perhaps if I need to or if my motivation fails I will involve others in my commitment to writing. But for now I’ll try to motivate myself.
Anyway, that wasn’t too difficult a start after all. 500 words in 10 minutes.
Digital Everything 