Novel Kicks Writing Room: Develop Your Writing Habit

Today in our writing room, I wanted to talk about how important it is to develop a writing habit.

I am very guilty of not giving myself enough of a routine and being strict about it. It can be so easy for life to get in the way; that washing needs putting in, I need to tidy. It’s been a long day and i just want to have a bath and go to bed. The list can go on and on but you get the idea. A lot of my procrastination is also fear. A whole novel seems such a big task doesn’t it?

It’s time to look at it as smaller chunks of writing.

This week, look at your current writing habit. Does your current routine allow time to write? Are you finding you don’t have as much time as you’d like and the writing is the first thing to be put to one side?

Go through your diary/calendar and look at each day. Look at the moments where you could honestly schedule in fifteen minutes of writing. Put it in as though it is a work commitment. Do this for every day (it doesn’t have to be the same time every day) and be strict about keeping to it. Give yourself a reward at the end (I find this very effective for myself.)

Fifteen minutes could be done whilst watching telly or in the lunch hour or first thing when you wake up. It’s amazing how quickly the word count will rise.

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.