Writing Habits – How to Be a Better Writer

Writing habits are often elusive to new writers. Some don’t even think they need them. Well, if you want to be a successful writer, you need to create solid writing habits. They’re not just about writing. Writing is part of your multifaceted life and you need to learn how to let it shine.

How to Improve Your Writing Habits

Step One: Write at Least One Thing Every Day

This sounds simple. But it isn’t always. I struggle with this step often. Our days get busy. We get tired. Life happens. But if you want to be a writer, you have to write.

Most of us know that your brain is a muscle and it needs exercise. The writing part of your brain needs exercise too. Once you start writing every day you will notice that your creativity and motivation will vastly improve.

Create a Daily Writing Habit:

1. First, you need a writer’s notebook.
2. Keep it by your bed, on your desk, or somewhere you’ll see it every day. (Visual reminders are excellent for habit enforcement.)
3. Write something in that notebook every day, even when you’re tired. It can be a single word, a sentence, or a draft of a novel. Just write something.
4. Try doing this every day for one week. Then try every day for two weeks.
5. Eventually, this will become second nature. If writing is truly your passion, you’ll find yourself excited to get to that notebook every day.

Step Two: Time-Block Your Life

(Schedule Your Writing)

Time-blocking is a simple (yet highly effective) exercise that will open your eyes to how much free time you actually have. So many people complain they don’t have time to write. They can’t fit anything else into their schedule. Well, time-blocking is a way to identify time you already have. Time you can now dedicate to writing.

The Steps:

1. Find a calendar. You can use a bullet journal, Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, or any other calendar with hourly time slots.
2. Fill in events and appointments you cannot change. For example, your job, getting the kids ready for school, weekly chores, etc…
3. Analyze your schedule for any free time. Highlight it.
4. Analyze your schedule for time that is blocked off, but could be used for things like brainstorming (during your commute, or as part of your morning routine).
5. Now, decide how much time you want to dedicate to writing. See where you can squeeze in those writing sessions.
   • Do you watch Netflix for a few hours before bed? You could dedicate one of those hours to writing instead.
   • Maybe Saturdays are totally free and you can assign a few hours during the day to work on your writing projects.
   • If you have a long commute where you’re not driving, that’s an excellent time to write. There’s lots of software that assists with writing on your phone – Novlr, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, etc…
6. There you have it – fresh picked writing time!

I highly recommend reading this book to learn more about time management and accomplishing your writing goals:

Yes, You Do Have Time – James Butch Tanner

Free Time Blocking Worksheet:

Step Three: Treat Writing Like It’s Your Job

When people first start writing, they usually treat it like a hobby. If you thought writing was just a hobby, you probably wouldn’t have ended up here. Put frankly, you need to be serious about writing. You need to see writing as a job.

Viewing writing as a job will motivate you to get your goals accomplished. If you embrace it as a hobby, there will be a lack of urgency and decreased work ethic. View your day job as an investment for your future writing career and make writing a priority in your “spare time.”

Think about your future self on those days when you just don’t feel like writing. You can either say:

• “Future self, I’m doing this for us, so we can be successful.”
• “Future self, I don’t care about that writing career. I’m just going to go to sleep.”

If you’re reading this then chances are that you eventually want writing to be your full-time job. Why not start now?

Step Four: Find an Accountability Partner & Your Tribe

An accountability partner is so important. I cannot stress this enough. Find someone that will hold you to your promises. You cannot do this alone. Trust me, I’ve tried.

The Steps:

1. Find someone you trust. (If you don’t have a close family member or friend, reach out to the writing community on Twitter. They will help you.)
2. Tell them about your hopes, dreams, and goals as a writer.
3. Lay out your plan for them – Create SMART goals for your writing and share those with your partner.
4. Finally, tell them that you want them to hold you accountable for meeting those goals.

Reach out to your accountability partner when you’re struggling. They will remind you why you want this so badly. They will push you to keep going.

Much like your accountability partner, you need to find your tribe. I don’t have anyone in my real-life circle that supports my writing career. They all think it’s just a fad. So, my friends in the writing community on Twitter have become my tribe.

My tribe cheers on my accomplishments. They give me hope and encouragement when I want to give up. They give me advice when I have writing struggles. Having a tribe is so critical because we all have self-destructive thoughts. We all want to give up sometimes. Your tribe won’t let you. Your tribe will make you successful as a writer.

Step Five: Enter Contests on a Regular Basis

This is something I just recently started doing and regret not starting earlier. You can probably understand that fear of not being good enough. You may be concerned no one wants to read what you have to say. You might worry they will judge your writing too harshly. Or you might tell yourself it’s “just not ready yet.”

Realize now, right here, that your writing matters. That it’s worth sharing. That someone out in the world is just waiting to read your words. It’s exactly what they need at this moment. Plus, writing contests often have cash prizes, and extra money is always good.

After I entered my first writing contest I felt so good. I didn’t even care that I didn’t win. It was just an amazing experience in bravery and freedom. I can’t really explain that feeling. You’ll just have to try it for yourself.

Here’s a few writing contests you should try:

• Writer’s Digest Writing Competitions
• Newfound Prose Prize
• The Best Writing Contests of 2020
• 40 Free Writing Contests: Legitimate Competitions With Cash Prizes

Step Six: Ship Your Work

Ship your work. That means getting your work out there. Your writing does no good sitting on a shelf in your office. You need to share it with the world. I know it’s scary. It took me three years to make this blog public. But I’m so glad I did.

Shipping your work is terrifying:

• What if everyone hates it? (They won’t.)
• What if they tell me I’m not good enough? (You are.)
• What if someone says something mean about my writing? (Who cares? They don’t matter.)
• What if….?

You can sit there wondering about “What if’s?” forever. Or you can ship your work and find out that you are good enough. You are a real writer. Your voice matters. And most people will like what you have to say. Yes, there will be trolls. But there’s a saying that you don’t have haters unless you’re going places.

Make shipping your work part of your regular writing habits. Stop worrying about what people will think and let the world read your stories.

Step Seven: Keep a Journal of Your Writing Journey

I have done this from day one. It was the first writing habit I developed. I write about my writing. Why? It helps me see how far I’ve come. I started writing back in 2013 as a means of escaping a terrible, crushing depression. Ever since then, I’ve kept track of all my writing adventures. It’s interesting to look back at the stories I used to write (They were terrible, fyi, and no I will not be sharing them.).

I love my journals and I think every writer should do this. It’s another option for my number one suggestion to write something every day. But there’s so much more to it. I have come so far since I started and my writing journals are a reminder of that. They’re motivation on days when I struggle with imposter syndrome. They’re idea generators when my muse disappears on me. Perhaps most importantly, they are memoirs of my life as a writer.

Step Eight: Create a Vision Board

Remember when I said visual reminders are excellent? This is the greatest of visual reminders. Create a vision board for your writing career.

The Steps

1. Decide what to include on your board:
   • What do you want to accomplish?
   • Where do you see yourself in five years?
   • Who inspires you?
   • What genres do you love?
   • Pictures, quotes, your favorite novel covers, artwork, etc…
2. Decide how you will create your board:
   • You could dedicate a page of your writer’s notebook.
   • Design a mural on a wall.
   • Or maybe a poster board seems more your style.
3. Make it unique to you. Design something that is motivating. Make it beautiful.
4. Put your board somewhere you will see it every single day.
   • I placed mine right next to the door to my bedroom. So every morning before I walk out the door, I’m reminded of what I’m working towards.

Step Nine: Read Books, All the Books

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are a million reasons why writers should read more books. But the main reason is that you are a writer. Books are your world. A writer that doesn’t read is like an athlete that never watches their sport. If you don’t study the craft you will never improve.

Five Reasons Why Every Writer Should Add Reading to Their Writing Habits

1. To learn more about story-craft.
   • What works?
   • What doesn’t work?
   • How characters are formed and how they change throughout a story.
   • How good stories begin and how better ones end.
2. To get inspiration. This doesn’t mean stealing people’s ideas! But no story is truly unique. We all build on each other’s ideas – and make them better in the process.
3. To expose yourself to different writing styles.
   • No two writers are alike.
   • By reading more, you might find a specific element in a book that would work well in your story.
   • Again, don’t steal someone else’s ideas, use them as inspiration to create your own.
4. To be productive when you don’t feel like writing. Reading is just as important for exercising your mind and imagination as writing is. You should read as much, if not more than, you write. It will make you smarter and more creative, and help you hone your craft.
5. As a form of stress relief. Books take you to new worlds and show you things you’ve never seen before.

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

Stephen King

Step Ten: Accept Failure with Grace – Learn How to Grow

Go into this process knowing that you might fail, at least once.

Don’t get all emotional about it. Just accept that you are not perfect and neither is your writing. I’ll bring up my Writing Journey Notebook idea again – this is part of why I keep one. I note my failures and my successes. I write thoughts on why something failed to help me prevent myself from making the same mistake twice.

Do remember that all of your writing is always important. You took the time to create it. So, take the time to celebrate it, even if you’re the only one who likes it. Accept feedback with dignity. Most people are trying to help. Use criticism to help improve your craft. Always be polite in responding to comments. And never, ever give up.

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Practice these writing habits and you will become a better writer. Do you have ideas for writing habits that aren’t listed here? Let me know in the comments!

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Note: This page may contain affiliate links for which, if an item is purchased, I will receive a small commission at absolutely no extra cost to you. I only ever post links for products that I have used, found helpful, and loved. Thank you for supporting my writing journey so I can continue to help you on yours!