{"id":2134,"date":"2021-08-30T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/?p=2134"},"modified":"2022-07-19T10:42:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T15:42:00","slug":"zero-to-indie-author-creating-a-daily-writing-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/draft2digital.com\/blog\/zero-to-indie-author-creating-a-daily-writing-habit\/","title":{"rendered":"Zero to Indie Author: Creating a Daily Writing Habit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stop me if this sounds familiar. You wake up one day and realize that, although you still think of yourself as a writer, you aren\u2019t actually doing<\/em> much writing to speak of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, you might get in a groove for a few days or even weeks. But ultimately, life gets in the way and you lose it again. That half-finished manuscript just sits there in a rarely-opened file on your laptop, the \u201clast edited\u201d date making a mockery of your self-discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe I\u2019m just projecting here because this was most definitely the kind of \u201cwriter\u201d I was for many years. The kind with a full-time office job utterly unrelated to writing and who hardly ever wrote a word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I set out to kick off the <\/strong>Zero to Indie Author series<\/strong><\/a> strong by writing for 31 days without fail (every day in July), I quickly realized that old habits die hard.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all know that perfectionism and procrastination are the enemies of creativity. But even with a public declaration to keep me accountable, I struggled to show up every day. As it turns out, writing really is hard<\/a>\u2014at least, when you\u2019re trying to finish something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with a bit of help from the experts on the Draft2Digital blog, I got into a good rhythm. I finished the month with 27 writing days and 15,000 words under my belt. A pretty good start for someone who hasn\u2019t finished so much as a short story in years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how I went from zero to a (nearly) daily writing habit, and from a dedicated pantser to a plotter-in-training.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to create a daily writing habit from thin air<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t bury the lead on this one. The secret to creating a daily writing habit is this: you start writing daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I joke, but only a little. There are <\/em>some helpful pointers that I\u2019ll dig into below, but the key takeaway is just that. Turns out, no one is going to show up and give you permission, force you to sit down and write, or offer you a lucrative contract if you\u2019ll only write that novel you\u2019ve been dreaming up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a certain point, there\u2019s nothing for it but to start writing every day and see what happens.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the process of establishing a daily writing habit looked a lot like establishing any other new habit. I start strong, excited for the first handful of days and bolstered by the feeling that I\u2019m really doing it<\/em>. I get overly cocky about small early successes, like surpassing a target word count. Then I crash and burn with zeroes on a couple of days, and spend the rest of the month berating myself for not doing better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My writing pattern looked something like this for the first couple of weeks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday: 500 words\u2014\u201dI\u2019m so excited to be doing this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday: 500 words\u2014\u201dNailing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday: 1,200 words\u2014\u201dI\u2019m on fire! Every day will be like this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday: 750 words\u2014\u201dI can\u2019t imagine ever getting tired, I\u2019m on such a roll.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday: 200 words\u2014\u201dI\u2019m tired today. I\u2019ll make up my word count tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday: 0 words\u2014Because life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday: 0 words\u2014\u201dWhy even bother anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I needed some help establishing a healthy routine, so I scoured the D2D blog for expert advice. I didn\u2019t have to look far\u2014Kevin Tumlinson shares some fantastic tips in his post on <\/strong>how to finish writing your book<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong>(Of course, I needed help just starting <\/em>mine, but they worked all the same.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the tips I found most helpful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n