Getting (Back) Into the Writing Habit
Has a been a while since you last sat down to write? A week, maybe? A month? A year? However long it’s been, it’s great that you want to get back into your writing (or maybe you want to start, and that’s awesome, too)!
Restarting an old habit can be hard.
Maybe you stopped for a reason that no longer exists, or maybe it slowly got pushed out of your schedule or something of the like. Sometimes, when starting (or re-starting) a habit, it’s incredibly discouraging to try and get into the “groove” before it’s fully a part of your schedule again.
Don’t let this feeling get to you, though! It’s hard to make a habit, especially if you’re trying to launch into it full-force all at once. So, here’s a quick list of tips to help you get back into it.
Start small. If your end habit goal is to write 1,500 words every day, you first need to get into the habit of actually writing — even if it’s not every day. Start with something small, like maybe 200 words every other day. From there you can increase in increments, getting comfortable with writing more and more every day until you can easily get where you want to be.
Motivation can be hard to find.
A lot of people wait to start on something until they have the “right” motivation to do it. But if you wait until everything is perfect to start, you never will. Sometimes it’s a question of starting and going until you get to where you need to be; even if it’s sloppy, you can always fix it later.
However, there are some resources out there to encourage habit building and to give a bit of motivation. My favorites are the Google Chrome extension (and app) Forest, which sets a timer for you to work to, and Habitica, which treats your work and goal-setting like a sort of RPG game. Both, I find, are super helpful for building habits and staying honest with them.
Off-days are not a reason to stop.
Off-days happen. Maybe you didn’t have the time, or you weren’t in the state to be working. This doesn’t mean you should stop trying to build this habit; it just means you had a day in which you couldn’t continue this habit as you would’ve liked. How you handle this is up to you. Maybe you work even harder the next day, maybe you go on the next day like it never happened. Whatever you do, just don’t give up!
Habits are a hard thing to build. As someone who’s had to build them over and over (and over), I have a lot of experience in finding what works best for me. If you have any question, please don’t hesitate to leave a message in my ask or in my messages. Until next time, stay lovely! <333
