I launched my writing rocket 35 years ago. With a daily writing habit, it took off and kept my career orbiting, despite getting off-course sometimes and necessitating a re-calculation. In theory, a re-launch would never be required. 

But the last couple of years have wreaked havoc with my writing routine. Breaking my left wrist in four places, learning to type again, losing my mom, breaking my right hand in two places, two eye surgeries (one of which went awry), and a couple other major life “events” meant that I have spent the last few years learning how to start again . . . and again . . . and yet again. 

Why So EXHAUSTING?

Thank you to each one of you who wrote to ask if I were okay. I really appreciated that. I knew that I both needed and wanted to get back to blogging. First, I needed to face the fact that I’d replaced my iron-clad writing routine with a “maybe I will, I’m so tired, maybe I won’t write today” attitude. That needed fixing first. I had succumbed to Newton’s first law where objects at rest tended to stay at rest!

I tried to get back into my former writing routine (devotions early in the morning, followed by a time block of four hours for writing). Even with my mental flogging, I could only manage that routine for a few days. Then I cut back to two hours, then half an hour, and then gave up altogether for three or four days.

I had no energy for it! But why? I was happy when writing, but instead of energizing me again, it wore me out now! That really worried me.

Pull of Inertia Vs. Lift-Off

The answer came when I was listening to a podcast last week. Someone mentioned how much energy a rocket needed for lift-off. Did you know that 70% of the fuel on board a rocket is used up during take-off, trying to escape the pull of the earth’s gravity? Seventy percent! The rest, a measly 30%, is all that is needed to get to the moon and back (or wherever the rocket is headed) once the rocket is up to speed.

A light bulb went on when I heard that. Getting started with my writing routine again seemed to take so much energy each time. Apparently it wasn’t my imagination either. I always knew that getting started was the hardest part, but now it made sense why. It took more than half of my energy! I was in the habit now of sitting, not writing, or watching Britbox mysteries, not writing.

So it was no wonder that, after overcoming my inertia, I had little energy left for writing.

Blast Off? Who’s Kidding Who?

Did you ever notice how S-L-O-W those rockets lift off? They don’t blast off! They make lots of noise, raise lots of dust and smoke, shake and shimmy, and barely move an inch or two. Then more noise and dust, and they lift off six inches, then a foot. But it takes a lot of noise and effort and time to reach any kind of speed or escape velocity.

And that is exactly how we “lift off” again when our daily writing habit has been disturbed a few times. We shake and shimmy, make noise and smoke, burn more than half our energy, and lift off an inch at a time. But we DO lift off!

A Daily Writing Habit: Give It Time

If my theory was right, I knew what to do. I tried something new.  I granted myself the grace to admit how much energy it took to get started again. If actually sitting down and creating words out of thin air again was going to take 70% of my energy, then I wouldn’t expect my remaining 30% to produce four solid hours of writing.

No.

Instead, I expected to write one full hour with my remaining energy. That mini goal equaled a very successful day. I’ve followed that routine all week, and I’ve succeeded five days in a row so far. Actually, today I went beyond the hour because I still had some energy left. I doubled my daily word count, in fact, but was no more tired than yesterday after one hour.

THIS IS THE POWER OF HABITS, in my opinion. That is why I aim to write daily from now on. I never want to get back to the place where simply attaining “lift off” takes 70% of my energy. With a daily writing habit, you slip into it almost without effort. That leaves about 95% of your energy–NOT 30%–for your writing.

And that’s the kind of magical writing day that leaves you more energized than you began.