Open Thread Highlights
10 Ways to Support Your Writing Habit
Medium writers share their best tips
Building a writing habit is tough. What actually works can change from person to person, and sometimes the best approach is to try a bunch of different things and just see what happens. In that spirit, we recently asked writers, “What Has Worked for You to Support Your Writing Habit?,” and to our delight saw a whole range of great ideas shared in the responses. We’ve highlighted a few of them here — you’ll find some familiar advice, and also some surprises. Thanks all who submitted!
If you’ve got any additional ideas, share them in the comments of the discussion.
Let yourself write about whatever you like.
Switching up what I write has made my practice more fun. Instead of forcing myself to write the same things everyday, I have made my commitment to write. From there I give myself space to show up and create whatever I feel like that day. Sometimes it’s an article, other times is poems or stories. This flexibility has me looking forward to writing, rather than dreading what I think I “should” be writing about.
Figure out the best time to write, for you.
Identifying the part of the day when I tend to be most creative (late afternoon/early evening) and blocking that time to write has been very helpful for me
— from Andrea González-Ramírez
Explore new ways to connect with your readers along the way.
So I’m working on a novel and something I’ve been trying out — mostly on Tumblr — has been to have people send me a number between 1 and however many pages of the novel are done so far. I reply with a sentence or two from that page. This has been a nice way to not only engage with people, but also to ensure that every page of this novel has SOMETHING I like and think is worth sharing. It’s been interesting so far
Write together virtually.
A friend and I started “Writers’ Hour” in March — every morning at 8am we’d open up a Zoom room and write together. Now we host 4 sessions each weekday with 600+ writers! You’re all welcome to write with us (it’s free): http://writershour.com/
There’s magic in sitting in silence for a set period of time and writing with other writers. For us, the accountability is key — knowing hundreds of people will show up, it makes us get out of bed and do the work.
Make your writing environment absolutely delightful.
I write at my favorite times of the day. I make tea and light incense, I make it a relaxing experience. As well as a lil yoga too. I utilize the root and heart chakras to stimulate my free flow thoughts. When my body is nice and buzzing from being present then I get to work!
Fill your drafts with a bunch of potential stories. When you feel less motivated, take a look at what you’ve already started.
I always have dozens of drafts and half-finished stories and multiple, bigger projects in the works. Sometimes, it can get overwhelming and I have to close a bunch of tabs, but for the most part, the freedom to just pick anything out of a big pool each morning and just GO has helped me write more and faster! If I feel friction on one piece, I can move to another. There’s always SOMETHING I wanna write, and if I spend a little extra time figuring out what it is, the words flow a lot better!
Use your voice to start a draft.
I recently learnt about Google doc’s dictation functionality (probably late on the uptake but rather late…) and it has been fantastic to record ideas, thoughts, feelings or even write stories on the go! Minimal editing required as Google has done a great job with voice accuracy and you don’t have an excuse that you couldn’t write it down in the moment!
Set a short timer, and just write.
I write for 10 minutes each day. It doesn’t matter if I journal or work on a project. It’s just a short period to focus on writing. Sometimes I get caught in the flow and it goes longer, which is ideal for me. I don’t have a specific time I write- just whenever I remember.
Switch up your writing tools.
As strange as it may sound, switching up what I use to write helps me. I don’t limit myself to my laptop and I try to jot down ideas in a journal or use my Notes app. I’ll use my favorite pen or kick it back old school with a pencil. Even the littlest details make the process fun.
When wrapping up a writing session, stop mid-sentence.
When I was a teenager, I read many books about how to write. In all that reading, the only bit of advice that I found genuinely useful was this: When you are about to stop writing for any extended period of time, stop in the middle of a sentence. Then, when you resume writing, you immediately begin by finishing that sentence instead of staring at the paper or computer screen, wondering what to write next.
Read more responses in the discussion here.
