Developing the Writing Habit

Writing can be a lonely, thankless job, filled with rejection. But it can also be very rewarding when your text resonates with people.

Ask yourself why you want to write and what do you want out of it. There’s no problem in doing it just because but a strong reason will help you persist through the dark moments until you finish your piece.

• Results come when you work at your craft consistently every day.
• It’s good to write first thing in the morning, as you are more creative upon waking.
• If you have a job, your writing should take place outside your work time. 
• Choose a “writing spot” and keep it consistent.

Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to follow advanced techniques early on. There is endless advice on writing, but in the beginning, all that matters is getting words onto the page every day.

Set small, easy to accomplish goals and build upon it. Focus not on the end result, but on the process. 

Write whatever you want. But something short is better as it gives you a view of all the writing process, speeds up your learning and demotivates less when you write something bad.

Do finish your work and expose it to criticism as the final step.

• Publish your work. Writing is a process and releasing it is the final step.
• Writer's block can be overcome with a strong habit built of sitting down to write each morning.
• Fear of not writing well can slow you down if you start obsessively self-editing. Keep writing, you can edit later.
• Self-doubt can be cured with fast writing. 
• Fear of rejection is overcome if you write for yourself, build a daily writing habit, and keep publishing every week.