10 Ideas to Create a Daily Writing Habit

How many people thought about doing a New Year's resolution to write a book in 2023? How many people are working on this goal right now in February 2023?

There are many people who want to write a long work, even a book, but getting started can be hard. Once you have picked out a book topic, it may be even harder to maintain interest in working on your book.

Many people regularly feel discouraged about their writing. This article from NY Book editors discusses some reasons for being stuck as a writer.

There are local writing groups, like "Shut Up and Write," and other literary groups that can help make writing less solitary and discouraging.

Here are some ideas to reduce barriers to your productivity if you are working on a daily writing habit. 

1. Reduce the number of goals you are doing daily. This will ensure that you are focusing on the goals you really want to accomplish. It will also ensure that urgent tasks don't take precedence over your main goals.

2. Use do not disturb on your phone to prevent interruptions and distractions while writing and while sleeping.

This will help with creativity and focus. Sleep is an area that can help creativity considerably so if you are sleeping well, it can help your writing.

3. Clearly define the goals to complete each day and what each goal means to you. This will ensure that the most important but not necessarily urgent things can be accomplished.

Someone I know puts their goals on a small index card each day. They carry the index card in their pocket and make sure to get each thing accomplished.

4. Say no to competing goals that are not on your shortlist. This can be a hard one. You can recruit help from other people. Share your goals with your friends and ask them to help you stay on track.

I tried this, and it helped my relationship with my friends as well as helped me with my goals. 

5. Realize you cannot fix your writing if you are not writing at all. Remember the goal is to write daily. Even if you have to write less, still write something every day.

6. Don't show people your writing rough drafts in the early stages to prevent discouragement. Wait until you are ready. This might help reduce discouragement in yourself and your work.

It also is self-compassionate because it allows you time to work on your writing to make it the best it can be.

7. Block time for your writing goal on your calendar every day. If you don't block time, when will there be time to actually complete the work?

8. Establish a deadline for writing milestones. This will help motivate you to stay on your writing schedule.

8. Write just long enough in one sitting to still be interested in writing some more. Do not write to the point that you are frustrated or tired out if possible. 

9. Remember that you may have cross-over skills from other goals or work you have done in the past that you can draw on to complete this task. 

Even though writing a book may perhaps not be something you have done before, you might have similar skills which are required for completing this task (like scheduling time, making priorities, and previous writing experience).

10. If you are doing research to enhance your writing, alternate doing research every other day and doing actual writing on days when you are not researching. This can help prevent you from procrastinating through your "research."

Focusing on what's important to you by defining what you want to accomplish will help you achieve any goal.

If the goal is to write a long work, like a book, these tips may help you clear barriers and make your New Year's resolution a reality in 2023.