Writing every day is challenging.
Especially if you don’t have a process for coming up with ideas to write about.
Building a process for finding ideas and a writing routine helps. The best writers have them.
- Stephen King used to write 2,000 words a day
- Margaret Atwood typically writes from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
- Ernest Hemingway wrote from 6:00 am until sometime after lunch
Remember, your best work as a writer isn’t just determined by talent, it’s determined by how much work you’re willing to put into it.
Are you willing to write every day? Are you willing to write when you don’t feel like it? Are you willing to write through rejection?
You need more than motivation to be a consistent writer. You need commitment, a process that holds you accountable.
How to Build the Perfect Writing Process
The perfect writing process is built on always finding ideas. You need to know where to find ideas to write about.
- 3Ps – Personal. Process. Polarizing. A personal story about your experiments and achievements that can inspire others. A process for achieving a specific result like a how-to story. A polarizing view and explain why you hold to it.
- Historical – What has history taught us? A look at a historical figure, an event, or a past formula or process that shapes the way we think or write. Explain why it matters.
- Scientific – This is a deeper dive into the research. You’re uncovering what studies say and interpreting it. You’re seeing what a collective group might be saying
The 3Ps are about yourself and what you’re telling the world.
Historical is about looking from the outside in. You’re seeing the world from someone else’s perspective.
Scientific is about uncovering something new through the lens of a scientist, finding what data says about something.
How to Stick to a Routine
Even if you have ideas to write about, you still need a routine that helps write day after day.
Consistency isn’t a talent, it’s hard work. James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, says you need to 4 things to stick to a routine or a habit:
- Cue (your environment triggers your habits)
- Craving (make it attractive to start the habit)
- Response (make it easy to get started)
- Reward (the outcome of your habit)
So, for example, if you want to write every day you need to put yourself in a position to succeed.
Write in the same room every day (environment). Have the desire to get started like saying I get to instead of I have to start writing (craving). Have the computer set up and ready to go. make it frictionless to get started (response). And give yourself a reward when you finish writing like having a snack or going on a walk (reward).
Embrace the Hard Work
While finding ideas and building a routine makes the work easier, you still have to do the work.
There will be days that you feel like giving up. The best writers don’t wait because they have more talent than other writers. They write because they persevere. They write because they’ve built a routine. They write because they love it.
If you want to write every day, you must be willing to work at it.
Your best work is the outcome of persistent work.