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Crush writer's block, meet your deadlines and avoid burnout by adding these core practices to your daily writing routine.
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| By Matthew Hart |
Here are 3 Core Practices for Your Daily Writing Routine
1. Digest Your Goals
Gain these two benefits when you break down your large writing goal:
FIRST: You will stop feeling so overwhelmed when you want to write.
But, here's the great news!
You've just made the hardest decision already. You've decided to write a novel. That's your Main Goal.
Now, all you need to do is to break your Main Goal into smaller goals. A great way to do this is to outline your novel.
You will break down your whole novel into beats. Each beat is then broken down into chapters, and each chapter breaks down into a series of scenes.
Now, your scenes become your new daily writing goals.
This time, when you sit down to write, all you have to do is write one single scene not, "The next great American novel."
And, here's the best part...
Because you already summarized what will happen in that scene, you'll already be prompted to write. Good bye writer's block!
SECOND: You will have deadlines to keep you on pace and motivated to finish your writing project on time.
Once you determine how many scenes are in your novel, you can now set a realistic final deadline for your novel's first draft.
But, that final deadline might be a year away! That's okay.
By meeting, and celebrating, shorter deadlines, you will keep yourself motivated throughout the project until you actually FINISH YOUR BOOK!
Also, be sure to keep a record of when you've reached each deadline.
Showing yourself that you are meeting your daily, weekly, and monthly writing goals will help to pull you through those times when you're less motivated to write.
2. Sprint Through Your Daily Word Count
Writing sprints help you achieve your daily writing goals in two ways:
FIRST: You shut off your inner editor.
Our writing time is valuable. Most writers, in general, can agree that we don't have enough time to write as it is. So, why waste what little time we can get?
Does this scenario sound like your writing session?
You've finally managed to write a sentence or paragraph, but quickly find yourself going back to read what you've just written or fiddle with the arrangement of the words in your sentence.
That's called editing, my friend, and there's no room for it in your writing session.
Put your inner editor at bay by writing so fast it can't keep up. I've found this technique to be the best way, at least for me, to JUST GET THE STORY ON PAPER, ALREADY!
SECOND: You might infuse more emotion into your writing.
Once you've committed yourself to writing faster, you will notice that the best way to do this is to write from your stream of consciousness.
You may find that it's easier to make your readers feel something, just by doing this one thing.
By writing from your stream of consciousness, you can bypass your analytical senses, which tend to make your writing emotionally sterile.
Writing more quickly allows you to tap into how you are feeling about what you're writing about, and you will naturally start using words and phrases that can trigger the same emotional response in your reader.
Just be sure to save this draft as we writers also have a tendency to over-edit after the writing is done, and you'll be happy to have that emotional first draft to fall back on.
3. Designate a Writing Activity for Each Day of the Week
Knowing exactly what you're going to do today benefits you in a couple of ways:
FIRST: You will get started right away.
You may have struggled with what to write about before, but once you put this core practice into effect, your daily writing routine will pull you towards it like a magnet!
No more staring at a blinking cursor or blank page, because you've got work to do!
There are a lot of elements that converge into a rewarding writing career.
Researching, writing sessions, editing sessions, building a writer's platform, reading, learning, or even just daydreaming, visualizing, and, don't forget personal care!
By giving each task it's own day of the week, you will be mentally and physically more prepared to get it done and done well.
If Monday is your writing session, all you have to do is write. Someone asks, "What are you doing today?" You say, "I'm writing. Leave me alone! I'll see you on, Friday."
Even your pesky Editor will get their own day of the week. Your alarm clock goes off at four AM. What are you getting ready for? "I'm editing. Get me coffee and a red pen. Stat!"
By segmenting these aspects of your writing career, you can avoid burn-out and still have an enjoyable social life.
SECOND: You will be more focused.
Once you start using this core practice for your daily writing routine, you might notice that your productivity will also improve. This is because you are more focused on what you're doing.
Knowing what needs to get done right now, helps you to buckle down and just get it done.
But, finishing a task and doing it well can sometimes be two different things.
Like, when it comes to writing, I advise, don't edit. Dividing your focus between the two activities degrades the effectiveness of both.
This simple trick allows you to generate the raw material you'll need to finish your project, which is more difficult if you're distracted with other tasks.
The same concept goes for all the other aspects of your writing career.
To stay focused on the task at hand, keep in mind the rules surrounding each task.
If you're task is to write today. Unplug the internet. Don't think about social media or research. These rules will trigger your mind to focus only on the task at hand.
If you feel the urge to get distracted, just tell yourself you can go all crazy making Instagram posts, tweets and feeds on that designated day, but right now, it's all about the word count, or editing, or research, or whatever.
Without so many distractions, you may even see the quality of your work improve.
Knowing what needs to get done right now, helps you to buckle down and just get it done.
But, finishing a task and doing it well can sometimes be two different things.
Like, when it comes to writing, I advise, don't edit. Dividing your focus between the two activities degrades the effectiveness of both.
This simple trick allows you to generate the raw material you'll need to finish your project, which is more difficult if you're distracted with other tasks.
The same concept goes for all the other aspects of your writing career.
To stay focused on the task at hand, keep in mind the rules surrounding each task.
If you're task is to write today. Unplug the internet. Don't think about social media or research. These rules will trigger your mind to focus only on the task at hand.
If you feel the urge to get distracted, just tell yourself you can go all crazy making Instagram posts, tweets and feeds on that designated day, but right now, it's all about the word count, or editing, or research, or whatever.
Without so many distractions, you may even see the quality of your work improve.
Once you put these 3 core practices for your daily writing routine into place, you will crush writer's block, begin to meet your daily writing goals, and avoid burn-out.
Building an effective writing routine is all about establishing effective habits. It will help you to keep in mind that each aspect of your writing career deserves it's own established habit. Be sure to give each habit a day to express itself and you will avoid burn-out.
I hope you use these 3 core practices for your daily writing routine.
Do you have an effective writing routine already?
SHARE YOUR WRITING ROUTINE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW
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