Time in the chair, words on the page

A writing habit is essential to the writing life

Writers write.

That may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised. I talk to a lot of aspiring writers. When I ask them what they are working on, you know, what they are actually writing, I sometimes get either a blank stare or a sheepish shrug.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/

“Well, I haven’t quite started yet…”

“I’m going to write but it’s hard to find the time…”

“I started a couple of times but got stuck…”

“I said I want to write a book, not that I actually am writing one!”

This month, A Powerful Story newsletter is delving into various aspects of the writing life. Last week we talked about reading as part of the writing life. Reading exposes us to good writing (hopefully) and immerses us in a literary world. It inspires and informs our writing.

This week, let’s talk about writing. Many of my would-be clients say they want to write a book, but what they really want is to have written a book. They want to skip over the sweat and tears, the daily work of it, and just have the book done—and for it to become a bestseller. Thankfully, there are collaborative writers like me who will do the heavy lifting for people who don’t have the time or inclination to write but want to have a book with their name on it. (And yes, they end up doing a lot of work because the only way to get their ideas from their head to mine is a lot of long conversations.)

But I’m assuming that you, dear reader, actually want to write. You want to craft a writing life, and put your thoughts on paper, your stories on a page, hopefully to someday share them with the world. That begins with building a habit.

Building a writing habit

I wish it were more glamorous or complicated, but writing is a practice. It is a habit you must cultivate by doing it. Part of the writing life is simply getting your butt in the chair. The secret to actually writing is not to hope you find time, but rather, to make time. To schedule time, as if it were an unbreakable appointment, to sit at your computer, to put words on a page. To sit down and write, as a discipline, as a habit, to spin gold from straw. When we do this, something shifts. In a mysterious alchemy, writing goes from an obligation to a privilege. We have to write, but the more we actually make ourselves write, the more we realize deep in our hearts that writing is something we “get to” do, not “have to.”

When I coach writers, I have them set word goals. Many writers follow the advice of Carolyn See, whose book Making a Literary Life I mentioned last week. She recommends writing 1000 words a day. (These newsletters are often in the 750-1000 word range, to give you a feel for how much that many words is.)

If you write 1000 words per day, five days per week, you can write 50,000 words (a common length for a nonfiction book) in 10 weeks. What you’ll have is a very rough draft, but you’ll at least have some material to work with. Because writers not only write, they self-edit (we’ll talk about that another time).

The question becomes, what are you actually writing? A newsletter? A blog post? Or are you slowly building a book, one section or chapter at a time?

I’m currently working on a book, but the writing I’m doing on it right now is very rough. I don’t even have a proposal written yet, but that’s what I’m working on—building an outline and summary. I’m framing the narrative and writing snippets that I pile up like bricks to use later.

Setting writing goals

If your goal is to write a book, that’s great. But you need to break that goal down into smaller pieces. And those pieces need to be measurable and specific.

Here are two things you can measure:

• time

• words

So if your goal is complete a rough draft of a book or even a blog post, you will get far if you put time into it. I recommend building a writing habit by writing just a little, five days a week. Begin by writing for 50 to 55 minutes, then taking a short (5-10 minute) break. Then go back to it for another 50 minutes. Then, leave it be. Don’t rewrite or even reread it just yet. Let it sit for a day, then come back and do more the next day.

You can also decide to just sit and write until you hit a certain number of words (say 500). Don’t purposely try to be wordy, (as I wrote about in this post about writing a lot concisely), simply try to let your ideas flow. Explore, and don’t worry about how everything fits together just yet. You’re working on a rough draft, so it can be really rough. Just get the words down.

Again, take a short break. Drink some water, walk around the house, do some deep breathing. Then go at it again, just writing. Write a scene, write an anecdote, write a list of points you want to include. Write a strong opening line. Use writing prompts if you need them. Like, finish this sentence: “It may surprise you to learn…”

If you have a full-time day job (whether at a corporation or as your children’s caregiver), making time to write can become a challenge. Give writing your best hours—either get up early or stay up late. (See this post for more on that.)

The writing life means you are actually writing. And that is the reward of the writing life. Some people think the reward is getting published. Publication is nice, but often, it misses the mark of our expectations. It doesn’t always satisfy the longing in our souls. But writing, crafting words, playing with ideas and getting them from your brain to the page—that is where the joy is. That is the life you’re after as a writer—and it is within your grasp. Begin by setting a goal (words or time) then get your butt in the chair and give yourself the gift of playing with words. You might be surprised where it will take you.