Building a writing habit is a superpower.
The best thing is that anyone can have that superpower with a bit of consistency and focus. You don’t need to be brilliant or talented to write every day. You just need to know how to build a writing system.
When you master this system, you’ll have the ability to build a writing career. You’ll build a library of content. You’ll build a habit that offers continuous benefits.
So, how do you build a writing habit that lasts?
Stephen King’s Writing Habit
Stephen King has written over 65 novels and over 200 short stories.
He wasn’t able to write them because he thought he was more talented than other writers. He wrote them because he built a powerful writing habit early on in his writing career.
Every day, he committed to writing at least 2,000 words a day. No less.
“I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. Sometimes, when the words come hard, I’m still fiddling around at teatime. Either way is fine with me, but only under dire circumstances do I allow myself to shut down before I get my 2,000 words.” – Stephen King on Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
If you want to build a writing habit, you have to make it a habit regardless of how you feel. You may feel the words fly onto the page. Or you may feel the words stuck inside your brain. A writing habit is developed regardless of how you feel about writing.
You should also make it easy to get started:
- Give yourself a realistic writing goal each day
- Focus on 2-3 topics to write about
- Create a motivational playlist
Like exercising, you have to put in the repetition to build muscle. You have to put in the daily work to build a writing muscle.
Some days it will be easy. On other days it will be challenging. The goal is to make it a habit so it won’t make a difference because you’re committed to writing each day.
Find Your Environment
Eugene Schwartz authored the best copywriting book ever published, Breakthrough Advertising.
In addition to writing books, he also has some of the best advertisements. But like many of us, creativity wasn’t something he waited to come to him. He didn’t wait hours staring out windows waiting for inspiration to strike.
Instead, he set a timer for 33 minutes. In doing so, he did two powerful things that made him write:
- He put constraints on his writing.
- He stayed in his environment (at his desk)
A 33-minute timer is a constraint. He set a timer because he had to write within that timeframe. The only thing he could do during that time was: drink coffee, stare out the window, do nothing, or write.
He chose to write regardless of if he felt like it.
Schwartz also knew the power of staying focused. By staying at his desk, he was familiar with his setting. He had written there hundreds of times before. His environment made it easier and more attractive to do the work because he was in his comfort zone.
How to Form Your Writing Habit
Writing habits don’t come out of thin air.
They are formed through time. If you want to improve your work, you have to consistently put in the work regardless of how you feel. Your writing can always be edited. You can improve something that exists, especially over time.
Remember, the greatest writers aren’t the greatest because of their talent but because of their dedication. They are just like us. They struggle. But they also preserve.
If you want to build a writing habit, give yourself a goal, constraints, and an environment that makes it easier to do the work.
When you eventually build that writing habit, you’ll feel the power to consistently create something special.