Today is National Encourage a Young Writer Day. While I would consider myself a young writer, I also want to pass along advice to those starting out. These are the three things that have changed my writing from a hobby to my profession. These principles have resulted in my word output tripling over the last two years! There are of course, no hard and fast rules when it comes to creative endeavors, but let these serve as guides.
1. Make time to write.
Notice the first word is make time. This is an act of intention. Make the decision now that you will commit to your writing. We never seem to find time for the things that aren’t important to us. We make time for our priorities and values. By deciding today to make your writing a priority, you have already surpassed 90 percent of “writers,” who try to fit writing into their schedules. This decision will likely require some sacrifice. Maybe you’ll have to cut out an hour of social media time or get up a bit earlier. Remind yourself of your priorities and what you want to accomplish. I guarantee you, fellow Writer, you can shuffle through your schedule to find a thirty to sixty minute block each day. Don’t worry about finding hours upon hours in the beginning. The first step is committing to a time block. You can increase the amount of time later.
Once you have committed to prioritizing writing, schedule a block of time each day for it. Honor your commitment to yourself. Put it on your calendar and protect that time like you would any other non-negotiable meeting or event. Ideally, this is the same time and place, seven days a week.
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”
attributed to basketball coach Tim Notke
This routine of showing up everyday, regardless of how you feel or any number of external factors will win a thousand battles down the line and help you succeed where others fail. Much like an athlete develops both their body and skill by showing up to practice and drill each day, so you must show up daily and practice in order to develop your writing. If you make the time, and commit to keeping the appointment, there is no limit to what you can accomplish.
Photo by Paul Zoetemeijer on Unsplash
You’ve heard it time and time again, “Writers write.” You’ve heard Stephen King’s advice, “If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all others; read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
Simply, there is no other way. You must write. Paradoxically, the more I write, the more I find I need to write. While there are all sorts of ways you can do it; the most important thing is that you get it down. On paper, on a napkin, on a computer; just put it down in words. It doesn’t need to be beautiful; it almost certainly won’t be on the first pass. Truly, you can’t write well until after you’ve written poorly. Getting your thoughts down is the single most important thing you can do as a writer.
If you are like most writers starting out, your prior writing experience has consisted of periods of inspiration, where the prose flows like the waters of the mighty Congo, relentless and seemingly unending. Then come a few days of “writer’s block” where nothing springs to mind and every subject seems devoid of wonder or interest. We have all been there. But, dear Writer, here is a secret and the reason I don’t believe in writer’s block. Once you start writing, inspiration has a way of showing up. As Pablo Picasso famously said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Committing to daily writing paves the way for creativity and inspiration to strike. As psychology shows us, writing in the same time and space every day also helps establish cognitive cues, so your brain knows it is time to write.
“One cannot judge in advance whether or not the idea of the story is worthwhile because until one has finished writing the story one does not know for sure what the idea is; and one cannot judge the style of a story on the basis of a first draft, because in a first draft the style of the finished story does not yet exist.”
John Gardner, On Becoming a Novelist
My personal way of writing through the “sticking points” is to write about how difficult it is. Yes, fellow Writer, if I decide that a piece is dry and I am destined to never write another interesting sentence, I do two things. I set a timer for ten minutes. I open a new document and I, well, document. I have literally written, ‘This sentence is terrible. Why can I not write? I am stuck. This is terrible.’ The point is to get the bad sentences and bad metaphors and second-guessing out of the way. Driving straight through the bad writing, because there is no other way around it. There is always another thought, another trail to wander down, another angle to consider, but sometimes we just have to get out of our own way. Every time I’ve used this method, I have found my writing groove quickly. I’ve never taken the full ten minutes to find it, either. This is not a guarantee that you will be beautifully back on track in less than ten minutes; this is an encouragement to start and stick with it! You can always go back and refine things, but you have to start somewhere. There is no need to publish your “sticking points” musing; it’s just there to help you push through and get to the other side of the doubts.
2. Make time to read.
Making time to read quality materials is the next step. As Mr. King said, it’s one of two things you must do as a writer. Maybe this is essays or books or journals covering your particular niche. Maybe this is novels and taking time to study the structure. What it looks like is not so important as being honest with yourself about both your goals and the materials you consume in the name of research. We’ve all scrolled through social media under the guise of finding inspiration, but I doubt any of us found much there. No, it’s more likely, at least for my writing on productivity and psychology, that a non-fiction book or long-form article is where I need to be. Therefore, I reserve fiction and web articles for when I am not researching for a piece. You will find what materials work best for you.
However, reading lesser quality work is still helpful. This is where the “no hard and fast rules” comes in. Everything you read – even when researching- doesn’t have to be aspirational or high-quality. It is helpful to look at pieces with clunky sentences and mistakes. Examine these pieces to see why they don’t work. Is the structure logical and easy to follow? Do the thoughts and transitions flow from paragraph to paragraph? Do the quotes help illustrate and further the author’s thesis? Are the sentences too long or short and choppy? Do they succeed in building the argument or tension of the piece? Why or why not?
Asking questions about the structural choices of the author translates over to your own writing. Understanding why a sentence does or does not work helps you write great sentences! The truth is that everything you consume informs your thinking and, in turn, your writing. Learn everything you can from everyone and every piece you come across. And that’s great general life advice, too, by the way.
An often overlooked part of making time to read, research, and dabble means having a cut-off time, as well. This is one place I struggle particularly. I love writing, but I also love learning and end up wanting to read articles and books from various disciplines and sources at all hours. If I am not careful, my reading time bleeds over into time that is supposed to be set aside for my family. I find it helpful and necessary to shut down work at 3 every day, so I can spend time with my husband before our evening schedule takes over. If I don’t set limits for the amount of time I read or write, something doesn’t get done. It all starts and ends with discipline.
3. Make time to move.
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
Much like the first two points, making time to get your body moving doesn’t just happen, but it is crucial to your well-being. Making sure you are taking care of yourself, physically, is not a luxury. It is a necessity. You only get one body, so take care of it. Running, weightlifting, stretching, yoga, walking, whatever you enjoy. Just move.
Even taking a short walk around your block or neighborhood helps to refresh the mind and gets the creative juices going. Walking for only two hours per week can improve our memory and learning capabilities, and help improve our sleep quality. I personally like to take a walk in warmer weather and also stretch a few times throughout the day in addition to the gym. I find moving throughout the day helps me to better process my thoughts and clear my mind for a few minutes, as well.
In our tech-driven word stepping away from screens is increasingly important. This may seem counter-intuitive given you are reading this on a screen, but we all know our eyes and brains need time away from the blue lights and glares of our beloved devices. Again, making time means a beginning and an ending, so be sure to put away your laptop (and tablet, and phone) and get away from screens for a bit each day. “Our eyes need the time away from screens to adequately rehydrate and rest,” says Mark Rosenfield, a member of the graduate research faculty at the State University of New York’s College of Optometry.
These are the three lifestyle choices that have most greatly impacted my writing. There is nothing especially ground-breaking or difficult about them. They are simply what you must, in my opinion, implement if you seriously want to develop your skills as a writer. Discipline and routine lay the foundation for creativity and inspiration. Make your plan and stick to it. I’ve surprised myself with the amount, quality and diversity of writing I’ve produced with these principles, and I am sure they will do the same for you! And, I am always here for you, as well. You can do this!
