writing habits

Warning: Stop Shifting and Drifting

Published on by Kristi Holl

driftingHave you ever noticed that we never drift in good directions?

If you want to accomplish anything, it has to be by choice. “Drift” is our default setting when we allow outside distractions to capture our attention.

Have you drifted away from your writing goals set earlier this year?

Looking Back

Recall the last time you set some writing goals. Did your goals include X number of hours of writing per week, or X number of pages produced monthly? Did you sign up for one of the 30-day writing challenges? Did you perhaps start out with great gusto? Have you continued to consistently write and produce those pages?

If not, it’s because you stopped actively making choices. You let yourself drift.

When the Thrill Wears Off

I love canoeing. Paddling is great exercise for the arms, and gliding across a sparkling blue lake is heavenly. However, when the first thrill of being on the water gives way to tired, cramping shoulder muscles, the tendency is to stop paddling. We rest a bit, and that’s okay, letting our attention wander to the shoreline or herons gliding overhead.

But if you stay focused too long watching the wildlife or the cook-out on the shore, your forward motion stops. You begin to drift off course, whichever way the wind is blowing or the current is flowing.

Lost Momentum

Drifting occurs when we stop the forward momentum, and it never takes us the direction we want to go. With that fact in mind, consider the direction of your writing career.

When you made your writing goals, your writing had your attention. You were focused. You paid the price of giving up other distractions. You logged in writing hours and watched the new pages pile up.

But at some point, you got a bit tired. We all do! Something–or someone–caught your attention. And kept your attention too long. Now you’re drifting away from the writing career of your dreams.

Self-Assessment Time

Be honest with yourself about this. Has anything in the past six months or year captured your attention or affection in a way that is distracting you from your goal? Is there a distraction that started out small but has grown so that it takes up way too much of your time? (This could be a hobby or pastime, something that looks harmless or even good. It could also be a friendship that started out fine, but has somehow taken over your life.)

Is there anything (or anyone) you need to stop (or drop) from your life so you can pick up your paddle and get your canoe moving again?

Time for Action

If you’ve drifted from your writing goals, don’t keep on hoping that you’ll somehow magically drift back. You won’t. Drift doesn’t work that way. Drift takes the path of least resistance.

As a reminder: attention –> direction –> destination.

If you want your destination to read “successful writing career,” then you need to be headed in that direction. And in order to head that direction, you must choose to pay attention to your writing. This will probably require you to stop paying attention to something else.

An Honest Look

Be honest with yourself. What shifts in attention do you need to make in order to stop the drift and turn things around? Bite the bullet and make the changes. Start today!

And once you’re headed in the right direction again, guard against drift. Notice the things that compete for your attention. Pause. Take a step back before giving your attention to something. Remind yourself of the destination you want to arrive at. Then make the choice that will get you there.

If drift is a problem for you, scroll back up to the top right of this blog page and give me your email address. I’ll send you a free copy of my ebook Rx for Writers: Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time. Its time-tested writing tips will help you get back on track ASAP.

Writing for the Soul: Success!

Published on by Kristi Holl

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the 30+ check-in reports I get every day from the four “challenge groups.”

We are writing on thirty different projects, in more than twenty states, across many time zones.

Many are grandparents, but a few are juggling their writing with nursing babies.

How can such a diverse group of writers support each other?

Commonalities

Despite differences in our lives, some things we have in common:

  • We notice that by writing daily–even for just ten or fifteen minutes–we are writing better.
  • We are smoother at starting.
  • We snatch small bits of time in which to write–bits that used to be wasted.
  • We bounce back and regroup from interruptions when life happens, as it does daily.

We are doing the best we can, given the schedules we keep, the numbers and ages of our children, the pressure of our day jobs, and various health issues.

Doing Your Best

It reminds me of a quote from a Jerry Jenkins writing book, Writing for the Soul: Instruction and Advice from an Extraordinary Writing Life. Jerry is a mega best-selling author, plus a down-to-earth person with a real writer’s heart. He said:

“Don’t try to write a bestseller or be a modern-day Shakespeare. Simply write your best… If you’re committed to being the best you can be, you’ll achieve your best. If you’re halfhearted, you’ll be only that. I’m not saying that if you commit yourself 100 percent, you’ll sell a million copies, but I can promise you’ll be the best writer you can be. How bad to you want to be the best you can be?…Decide what’s important to you. You will always make the time to do what you really want to do. If your goal is to be the best you can be, you can arrive there every day.”

Now that’s success!

Success Your Way

His last statement was like a cup of cool water on a dry and thirsty day. Read it again. We can be successful every day if it’s a day we do the best we can with our writing.

And if we continue to write every day, the best we can do next month or next year will be much better than the best we can do today.

Like so many things, success in writing is step by step. We don’t get better in our writing by giant leaps. We get better like the tortoise, not the hare: slow and steady is the pace, slow and steady wins the race.

Do you want to write better? Then commit to writing your best today…and tomorrow…and the next day. You can’t–in the end–be more successful than that. And it will have the added bonus of making your writing days a pleasure.

Just curious. How do YOU spell success on any given day?

Give Yourself the Slight Edge Today!

Published on by Kristi Holl

Can writing just 15-30 minutes a day really amount to anything? Even over the long haul?

Absolutely! And that’s why I’m running these two writing challenges in April.

It started when I read a book called The Slight Edge. It’s not a writing book per se. But the subtitle tells you the book’s premise: “turning simple disciplines into massive success.”

Universal Principle

The slight edge applies to everything in your life: your health, your career, your relationships, your leisure time…everything. And whether you like it or not.

As author Jeff Olson says,

“You can always count on the Slight Edge. And unless you make it work for you, the Slight Edge will work against you… Position your daily actions so time is working for instead of against you. Because time will either promote you or expose you.”

So what is the slight edge exactly? Olson explains that it’s the daily actions—small daily actions—that build up over time. Daily actions like flossing your teeth that results in no gum disease (promoting you) or no flossing resulting in your teeth falling out (exposing you). The same thing applies to any daily habit: walking to work, smiling at your spouse, saving instead of spending it all…

Or writing.

Small and Easy

The actions we take daily aren’t huge actions or hard actions. They’re actually quite small and pretty easy to do. (Unfortunately, they’re also easy not to do, at least until they become a habit.) It’s the “repeating them over long periods of time” that reap the results you want. As Olson points out,

“That’s the choice you face every day, every hour:

A simple, positive action, repeated over time.

A simple error in judgment, repeated over time.

This is not about making tough choices. It’s about making easy choices consistently.”

Book Overview

I can barely touch on the power of these principles here. The book is an easy read, has great reviews, and the principles are easy to understand and implement. There is a chapter for each of the seven  Slight Edge principles which are:

  1. Show up.
  2. Be consistent.
  3. Have a good attitude.
  4. Be committed for a long period of time.
  5. Have faith and a burning desire.
  6. Be willing to pay the price.
  7. Practice slight edge integrity.

He also has chapters on how to recognize where the Slight Edge is working in your life, either for or against you. He shows you how you can harness these facets in the pursuit of your dreams:

  1. momentum
  2. completion
  3. habit
  4. reflection
  5. celebration

Remember, the slight edge is always working—either for you or against you.

The writing challenges this month are about helping you to make the slight edge work for you in your writing. It’s a powerful concept!

Can you remember a time when making a slight change in any behavior over a long period of time helped you reap excellent results? If so, please share!

 

Writing on Schedule

Published on by Kristi Holl

As I mentioned in “Harnessing the Unconscious,” Dorothea Brande claimed in her classic book Becoming a Writer that there were two distinct types of writing you must master if you hoped to have a career as an author.

Whether or not both are necessary is up for grabs. However, I do know that both types have been very helpful to my own writing, for different reasons.

Today’s post describes the second April writing challenge you can sign up for.

Last time we talked about early morning writing. This second challenge (“Writing on Schedule”) will entail learning to write at a designated moment in your day.

What Kind of Schedule?

First, this scheduled writing takes no longer than fifteen minutes. And all of you can find fifteen minutes at some point in your busy day. (If you want to write longer, you can. But the challenge is to commit to just fifteen minutes.)

Each morning look at your day’s demands, appointments, and activities. In this particular day, where is a time slot you could set aside for fifteen minutes of writing? We all have slivers of free time, even if it’s taken from our lunch break. Decide for yourself exactly when you will take that time to write today.

Commit at All Costs

Suppose you looked at your schedule and decided that four o’clock was the best time to write today. Then what? According to Dorothea Brande,

“Now this is very important, and can hardly be emphasized too strongly: you have decided to write at four o’clock, and at four o’clock write you must! No excuses can be given.”

Regardless of what you’re doing at four o’clock that day, you stop everything and write for your fifteen minutes. If you’re on the phone, at 3:55 you begin saying good-bye. Wind up what you’re doing and be writing at 4:00 sharp.

Set a timer, either a mechanical kitchen timer or a computer timer. Then write.

Write What?

You can write anything at all. Here are some things I’ve done during scheduled writing:

  • Stream-of-consciousness thoughts and nonsense
  • Plans for blog posts
  • Fragment of dialogue
  • Writing prompts to get started
  • Description of someone or something
  • Complaints and gripes
  • A scene from my work-in-progress

When to Schedule the Writing

Don’t choose the same time each day. Try different times of the morning and afternoon and evening. Try just after a meal, or just before. It’s important to choose a different hour from day to day.

“The important thing,” says Brande, “is that at the moment, on the dot of the moment, you are to be writing, and that you teach yourself that no excuse of any nature can be offered when the moment comes.”

In other words, you don’t hit four o’clock and think, What difference does it make if I finish this chore now and write at four-thirty? No! You make yourself stop, get to your desk on schedule, and write. Or if you think, I had no idea I’d have a headache this morning, just take an aspirin or make some herbal tea, but then get to your writing.

Look Out for Opposition!

This sounds like such an easy exercise as you read about it. And eventually it will become easy. However, says Brande,

“as you begin to put it into practice you will understand. There is a deep inner resistance to writing which is more likely to emerge at this point than in the earlier exercise…the unconscious does not like these rules and regulations…It prefers to choose its own occasions and to emerge as it likes.”

Persevere! Ignore all the little voices that tell you it doesn’t really matter when you write, or won’t matter if you skip it just this once. Push on doggedly. If you do this, Brande says the “unconscious will suddenly give in charmingly, and begin to write gracefully and well.” From experience, I have to agree.

Warming Up for April

Give the scheduled writing a try this week on your own. Try different times. See where your own personal resistance lies.

Then if you want to join this 30-day challenge, I’ll give you how-to instructions on Friday.

What appeals to you about this challenge? Do you think it would benefit you?

Harnessing the Unconscious

Published on by Kristi Holl

If you already write fluently, for hours at a time, and you can write at will whenever you choose, you don’t need today’s idea.

However, if developing and then maintaining a daily writing schedule keeps eluding you, you’re in the right place.

This post describes the first type of accountability challenge for April.

Back to Basics

In Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande discusses two different writing practices necessary for you to be able to write fluently and at will. She even claims that if you repeatedly fail at these exercises, “you should give up writing and find something else to do because your resistance is greater than your desire to write.”

The first type of writing practice is early morning writing. It is writing done first thing upon rising (other than using a restroom and letting your dog out. I also make instant cocoa to drink while I write.) To do this writing practice, if you already work a day job, you’ll have to get up a bit earlier or forego some morning ritual like reading your newspaper or watching the news.

The Elusive Unconscious

We create best in a dreamy, half-conscious reverie state that is hard to come by during our busy days. This exercise helps you “train” your unconscious to flow toward writing (instead of something else). As Brande says, “the first step toward being a writer is to hitch your unconscious mind to your writing arm.” This exercise is to help you make that automatic connection so that later you can do this on demand.

If you’re skeptical, that’s okay. I was too. But this simple exercise done daily helped me thirty years ago to become a writer. And returning to this exercise at various times in my career has helped me get unstuck after some major life transitions. Approach the idea with an open mind.

Here are Brande’s instructions:

“Just as soon as you can—and without talking, without reading the morning’s paper, without picking up the book you laid aside the night before—begin to write. Write anything that comes into your head.”

That can be last night’s dream, any decision you’re wrestling with, your prayers, anything at all. Just be sure to start writing before you have read anything.

You can use a notebook, sit in bed or in an easy chair, type at your desk, or anywhere you’re comfortable. Write as long as you have free time, or until you feel that you have utterly written yourself out.

Benefits of Early Morning Writing

As Brande points out, “what you are actually doing is training yourself, in the twilight zone between sleep and the full waking state, simply to write… Realize that no one need ever see what you are writing.” Do not judge your writing. In fact, for now, don’t even go back and read it. Just write.

Within a short time, you will find the task of writing no longer a strain. It will be second nature to put words on paper or screen as soon as you’re awake. Remember, it’s the habit of writing we’re working on here. The quality of writing doesn’t matter at all. Save your early morning writing though. Later you may go back and find some good ideas there you can develop.

After you’ve done early morning writing for a week or two, begin to push yourself a bit. When you feel written out, make yourself write one more sentence, or maybe two. A week later make yourself write one more paragraph. This gradual stretching will help you eventually write for many more hours (comfortably and without strain) than you presently can.

Getting Ready for the Challenge

If you want to try the “early morning writing” accountability challenge in April, begin now to think about fitting it into your schedule. Consider what you can give up in your morning ritual to make time for this. Think about going to bed half an hour earlier so you can get up earlier.

Warn the people you live with about this change, if needed. Choose a place where you can be alone and relax during your writing time. (When my children were babies, I snuck into the bathroom and wrote by the night light. My eyesight was better then!)

Be determined. Be creative. Plan ahead. And get ready!

Accountability: It Works!

Published on by Kristi Holl

Back in January many of you joined me in the “31 Minutes for 31 Days Challenge.” That jump started many of us for the new year.

In February I did my first 28-Day Challenge with two writing friends, and March began our second 28-day Challenge. (The Challenge has been to write at least 30 minutes daily.)

Strength in Numbers

Several of you have mentioned that you’d like to try an accountability challenge, and I’m going to start two of them on April 1st. They will each run for 30 days as we work together to become writers who write daily.

Today I’ll talk about the “why” behind daily writing practice. This coming Friday I will describe one of the challenges. Next Tuesday I will describe the second challenge–and the reasons for it. On Friday of next week, I’ll tell you how to sign up for one or both challenges.

“Many who want to be writers–who are in their hearts, writers–have followed the same beaten path that doesn’t come to a dead end so much as it peters out,” says Judy Reeves in one of my favorite writing books, A Writer’s Book of Days. “Even though their spirit longs for it, they have never made writing a priority in their lives; that is, they have never set aside a special, specific time for their writing. They don’t practice their craft.”

What’s So Special About Accountability?

I want to do these writing challenges with you because I’ve seen the huge difference this year that regular writing practice has made in my life. It isn’t just getting more writing done–although that is certainly true. Even nicer, I feel more like a writer. And when you feel like a writer, your confidence goes up INDEPENDENTLY of the market (whether you sell anything.)

And one thing is true: your writing really does get better.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Writers are artists. We paint with words. And we need to practice our craft daily like other artists who are working on their craft.

No one expects a pianist to go from Chop Sticks to Cargenie Hall. No one expects a painter to go from paint-by-number pictures to a one man New York showing. Dancers, actors, singers, athletes, artists: we only get good at our craft by daily doing the drills.

Writing practice is simply making an appointment with yourself to write–and then showing up. You treat that commitment to write, even if it’s only for fifteen minutes, as sacred. Only true emergencies keep you from that appointment. (True emergencies–yours or other people’s–usually involve lots of blood or lots of smoke. If the interruption doesn’t fit that description, chances are good that it can wait until after you write.)

“Writing practice is showing up at the page,” says Judy Reeves. “One of the best things about writing practice is that it IS practice. It’s not supposed to be perfect. You’re free to make mistakes, fool around, take risks.”

As I said, I will be starting two writing challenges for the month of April. They will involve two types of writing, equally important to your career, I believe.

Why Daily Accountability?

Is a daily writing practice really that important? You won’t know until you try it for several weeks, at least. But according to Judy Reeves, it has great benefits.

“A daily routine that includes writing will have more benefits than you can imagine, but just for starters (a) the writing will come easier, (b) you’ll write more, (c) your writing will improve, and (d) you’ll realize that you are, after all, a writer.”

I don’t know about you, but all four of those reasons sound wonderful to me!

What has been your own experience with accountability?

Direction, not Intention

Published on by Kristi Holl

directionAll of our actions have results, or consequences. That’s not news to anyone. And yet, do we act like we believe that?

Not all that often.

Good Intentions

Too many writers (myself included sometimes) believe that if we work our hardest and try our best and keep a good attitude, we’ll end up successfully published. Why? Because we have good intentions. But it’s “direction–not intention–that determines our destination,” says Andy Stanley in his book The Principle of the Path.

Here’s a simple illustration. You may intend to be a great archer. However, if you work hard, shoot arrow after arrow, and lift weights to have stronger biceps–but don’t pay attention to direction–shooting arrows is a waste of your time. Oh, you might luck out and hit your target once in a blue moon, but that’s about it.

Sadly, many writers approach their careers like this.

Lacking Direction

In every part of your life (health, relationships, writing career) you’re moving in some direction toward a specific destination. We don’t end up at that destination out of luck or sheer hard work or good intentions or because “it all worked out somehow.”

Destination is the end result of the choices you made yesterday, added to the ones you make today, added to the ones you will make tomorrow. Actually, it’s the end result of years of daily choices, compounded with interest.

There are paths we choose that lead us to destinations we never intended, and there are paths we’re on right now that are leading us away from–not toward–our dreams and goals. If we’re headed in the wrong direction, no matter how good our intentions or how hard we work, we won’t reach our goal.

Please NOTE: you may honestly think you’re moving in the right direction, when you’re not. Don’t assume that because you’re working hard, you’re headed in the right direction.

Personally Speaking

It’s the decisions you make on a daily basis that determine your path and your destination. For example, for many reasons I want to be super healthy the older I get. I want it more than most other things because it affects all areas of my life.

I know a lot about nutrition and exercise and weight loss and what my body needs to run its best. A healthy body is my intention and has been for years.

BUT the daily decisions I made last year to eat candy instead of the hated vegetables, to watch a movie instead of go walking, and skip the weightswrong-direction work-outs have NOT led me to optimum health. My path led in 2012 to higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, much less stamina, and more headaches.

It only took small changes–but changes incorporated at least six days per week–to turn that around. BP is now normal, cholesterol checked this week is finally down to normal, headaches are gone, and stamina is increasing.

Writerly Direction Needed Too

With that principle in mind, I am now making myself accountable for some small DAILY changes in my reading, writing, and Internet schedule. I didn’t like my destination at the end of 2012, so a change of direction was in order.

I see writers doing the same things I was doing. They’ve got their goals written down, they’ve set deadlines for themselves, they intend to finish that novel and submit it, and ultimately they want to be published. They knock themselves out to create websites, network on Facebook and GoodReads and Twitter, write newsletters and blogs–but they never have time to actually do much writing. They spend so little time actually writing that they don’t improve. [I’m not pointing the finger at any of you. I only know this is true because it was my own problem.]

Despite my great intentions, my daily choices last year did not take me in the direction I truly wanted to go.

“I know it’s tempting to believe that our good intentions, aspirations and dreams somehow have the ability to do an end run around the decisions we make on a daily basis,” says Andy. “But at the end of the day, the principle of the path determines the outcome. Simply put, you and I will win or lose in life by the paths we choose.”

Take a look at your DAILY writing habits, those writerly activities you do day after day, week after week, year after year. What direction are you really headed?

Every day, it’s a choice. What path will you choose today? [And if you have trouble deciding which daily habits would move you in the right direction, scroll back up to the top-right, give me your email address, and I’ll send you my free e-book on Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time.]

How to Take Charge of Your Writing Life

Published on by Kristi Holl

Welcome! I’m glad to see that you found me at my new “home.”

As promised, starting today I’m giving away a free e-book for frustrated writers.

Rx for Writers: Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time is short, but it contains solid advice for three of a writer’s biggest problems:

1. following through on our goals
2. organization of our writing space
3. lack of good writing habits

While the e-book is only thirteen pages long, I can guarantee you more success in your writing life if you follow the advice.

After You Download the E-Book…

Please update this new URL address (http://kristiholl.net/writers-blog/) in any location you have the current blog address.

  • your RSS feed (wherever you read blogs…I read mine through my Gmail Reader)
  • your Favorites folder
  • your blog (if you have Writer’s First Aid listed in your links)
  • any other places you may have linked to my blog

Posting Schedule

I still plan to post on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Jan Fields will still give you the “What’s New at Kristi’s” in the Institute newsletter.

Getting Your E-Book

The form to get your e-book is on the right-hand side at the top of the page. After you sign up, it will send a confirmation email to your Inbox.

After you confirm, you’ll be taken to where you’ll get Rx for Writers: Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time.

NOTE: I’m not starting a newsletter at this time, nor do I send out sales letters. I won’t abuse your email addresses. Very occasionally, when I post a new report in my Resource area, I will let you know that. And, of course, you’ll be free to unsubscribe at any time.

Three Reasons Your Writing Life Isn't Working–and What To Do

Published on by Kristi Holl
What's the problem?

What’s wrong with me? you wonder. Why doesn’t this writing advice work?

A third worrisome thought nibbles at the back of your brain: Maybe I’m not a writer after all. 

Not to worry.

I’ve identified three of the most common reasons why writers don’t get their writing done. And I’ve put together an overall solution for you.

Reason #1: No Overall Strategy

You dream of being a novelist. You’ve taken a writing course. You read writing blogs.

And you write. Daily!

But you’re no closer to writing that novel than you were a year ago. Why?

It’s true that you write every day, using exercises and prompts. And you faithfully journal.

But there’s no overall plan or strategy for writing the novel, no measurable goals and sub-goals.

Reason #2: Forcing Square Pegs into Round Holes

Maybe you diligently follow writing advice found in magazines or tips you hear from published writers.

You set your alarm to write at 5 a.m. but fall asleep on your keyboard because you’re a night owl.

You join a weekly critique group, but their need to socialize irritates you because you came there to work.

You set up your laptop to work in a coffee shop with a writing friend. She gets to work and churns out ten pages! You can’t focus, even with ear plugs in.

The problem? You don’t match writing advice to your personality.

Reason #3: Writing Habits That Don’t Help

You have less than two hours of time alone while your child is in preschool. You use that time to do a low-energy job instead of writing on your novel (a high energy job).

You’re on a roll, half way to making your writing quota for the day. Your sister calls. You could let the answering machine or voice mail get it…but you answer instead. When she asks, “Are you busy?” you say, “Not really.”

You have alerts turned on so when you’re on the computer or near your phone, you hear beeps and buzzes every five minutes. New email! A new text! A new “have to see this” YouTube video!

The problem? Sometimes we develop writing habits that are detrimental to our ability to concentrate and thus to our productivity.

Help is Here for Your Writing Life: Free E-Book

As I said above, I’ve put together an e-book dealing with these very issues.

It’s called “Rx for Writers: Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time.”

I’ll be giving it away this Friday as a kick-off to some changes that are coming.

See you back here on Friday. And if you know any writers with these issues, please pass the word. I’d love to have them check in here on Friday for their free e-book.

Habits: Anchors for the Writer's Life

Published on by Kristi Holl

anchor“Habits are the little anchors that keep us from straying very far from the lifestyle to which we’ve become accustomed, whether that lifestyle makes us happy or miserable.” 

~~from Karen Scalf Linamen’s book Only Nuns Change Habits Overnight.

Habits: Help or Hindrance?

We all have habits that either support or hinder our writing lives. [NOTE: I’m working on a f.r.e.e report right now on organization, time management, and writing habits for you.] Habits are simply the ways we repeatedly do some things.

Positive writing habits include daily writing practice, telling ourselves positive things about our abilities, and keeping current with publishers’ requirements.

Negative writing habits run the gamut from playing computer games and surfing the Internet during our writing time, to not keeping track of submissions and not studying to improve our craft.

Do you see any consistent patterns in your writing life? Which positive habits help you? Which habits detract from your ability to pursue your writing dreams consistently?

Habits from Scratch

If you could redesign your writing life from scratch, which patterns would you reestablish? Which habits would you drop, if you could break them? Can you even identify the habits that are getting in your way? Do you wonder where your time is going, why you can’t seem to get around to working on the project that is so dear to your heart? Try journaling about it.

“Keeping a journal can help you identify hidden habits that are nunsinterfering with your life,” says Linamen. “You can embrace the changes you want to embrace–and getting a handle on what’s really going on is a great way to begin!”

The Art of Change

A good writing life–a productive writing life–is built on good writing habits.  They keep you anchored to the writing life you want to have, both now and in the future. Building good writing habits may not sound very exciting, but discipline now will give you a lot of freedom later on–and a writing life worth having!

If you have time, share with others one GOOD writing habit you’ve developed (any kind) and one BAD one you’d like to break before the end of the year.