Because Writing Every Day Can Be Useful
An interesting habit.
This article is the English version; if you are interested in the Italian version, you can find it here: Perché Scrivere Tutti i Giorni Può Essere Utile.
1. Because it can be useful
Conquering this habit (or keeping it / cultivating it if you have already started writing periodically, for example thanks to NaNoWriMo) can be an excellent habit, especially for those who:
- Want to publish content (for your blog, on Medium, and so on).
- Write a book (either fiction or maybe even a technical manual).
In my case, since I want to do both, it’s great.
In the first case, for the contents, I’m starting to publish on this platform, getting to know it more and more and making it a habit (since the beginning of the year I started using it regularly I decided to always publish an article a week, both in Italian and in English, I just delayed this article by one day, I’ll explain why at the bottom of the article).
In the second case, for the book, I would like to write a few. Still, in this case, the process is longer, both for the number of words and for the steps necessary to make it a book worthy of the name (I don’t mean content that you might like or not, but that is well written, correct, ..), on this point, I started a little more seriously starting from NaNoWriMo 2020 in which I successfully participated reaching 50,000 words.
2. How to get used to it / maintain it
On one side, how to do it is quite simple, writing, word after word, and so on, but the hard part is being able to do it continuously.
In this case, the following tips may be useful:
Set yourself a daily goal
For example, 100, 250, 500, 1000 words a day, if you are starting to write now, do not begin immediately with thousands of words a day and do not disdain even a low number of words; the important thing is not to write a lot of the single day, but to be able to respect your goal for as long as possible so that it becomes a habit. In my case, I had initially chosen 1000 words a day, as I got a pretty good habit with NaNoWriMo, and I want to keep it, but I reduced this habit to 500, I will explain the reason later.
Choose the frequency
Choose the frequency with which you want to write, if every day, only a few, every other day, … according to your commitments, the ideal would be every day, but it should not be too demanding. Currently, the commitment I have given myself is to write every day except the weekend.
Choose on what to write
Choose which medium (even more than one) to write, whether on paper, on the PC, or the smartphone, for example, I write to the PC on Notion, in this way, I can also go on from the smartphone through the same app. The important thing is not to have too many tools to avoid losing what is written.
Concentrate
When you write as concentrated as possible, for example, you can listen to some background music (maybe even the sounds of nature could help you). There are several playlists on YouTube / Spotify to that effect or even various apps.
An example of a famous writer’s habit is what Stephen King points out in his book “On Writing” in which he reports that he writes 2,000 words every day of the year, even during holidays.
3. Possible problems
To build this habit, however, you may encounter the following problems:
Not knowing what to write
Introduction, part of the doubt of what to write could depend on whether you believe what you write perhaps not important or not useful for others; it does not mean that all that that you write should be published; it can also be a simple writing exercise to keep yourself in shape, it is certain that if you also generate useful content while you write then, it’s even better.
After the due premise, you can write about any topic you like (remembering that it is not necessary to publish everything you write, you can also simply keep it in the drawer, both real and metaphorical), it depends if you have a goal and then it would be useful stick to it or want to write as a habit.
Some examples of what to write:
- Thematic articles of things we like / passionate
- A daily diary of what happened the day before
- Stories we would like to read, nobody writes them as we would like and so let’s write them, so it is not certain that we will have to publish them so we will not even have to fear the judgment of others.
- Other stories that we would have liked to have gone in different ways or that maybe we want to deepen/expand (of fanfiction). In this case, be careful in case you want to publish them not to infringe any copyright. Some famous writers (who may or may not like it) started like this. An example of this is EL James (author of the 50 Shades trilogy), whose work was originally a Twilight fanfiction.
- Topics that have been studied in school, to learn in a more straightforward and more lasting way.
In my case, I will write thematic articles (like this one, for example) and some stories that I would like to read. For the latter, it will undoubtedly take much longer, as anticipated at the beginning.
Consistency
In this case, the important thing is to set yourself feasible goals; if you are not used to or cannot have the time, it is of little use to decide to write too many words, better to start with fewer words and gradually increase when you feel ready. Do not overdo it, by giving yourself too demanding goals such as, for example, writing 2,000 words every day (unless you are already used to these rhythms .. for some this is not a demanding goal ..), because if it were too demanding, maybe the first few days will be easier to reach (driven by enthusiasm) but slowly the fatigue will accumulate (and the enthusiasm will end) and the more time passes and the easier it will be to skip a few days with excuses (more or less valid, unexpected events happen, the important thing is how you deal with them and not use them as an excuse to give up) and then end up completely abandoning writing.
Lack of desire
If you find yourself lacking the desire to write, remember that writing is not an obligation.
Nobody forces us to write; it must be our choice because we consider it useful in some way; if we don’t want to write, let’s try to understand why, it could be a particular moment in our life for which it could be useful:
- Take a moment to pause; it could be useful to recharge your energy.
- We lower the daily goal; we will change it when this period passes, we will be calmer.
We could also decide to stop writing, and in any case, if the desire returns, we could start again.
4. Advantages of this habit
Having overcome the possible problems, I want to talk about the possible advantages of this habit with practical examples based on the goal you have chosen.
I take as a practical example the writing of articles on Medium and famous books as a basis:
2,000 words, equivalent to an article of about 8/9 minutes of reading.
About 30,000 words, these books are for example:
- George Orwell — Animal Farm
- Charles Dickens — A Christmas Carol
- Richard Matheson — I Am Legend
Goal 100 words a day, five days a week
- Every week we will write: 500 words.
- Every month we will write 2,000 words.
In a month, we would be able to write an 8/9 minute Medium article.
Goal 500 words a day, five days a week
- Every week we will write 2,500 words.
- Every month we will write 10,000 words.
In a month, we would be able to write five articles on Medium of 8/9 minutes or 1/3 of one of the books mentioned above.
Goal 1,000 words a day, five days a week
- Every week we will write 5,000 words.
- Every month we will write 20,000 words.
In a month, we would be able to write ten articles on Medium of 8/9 minutes or 2/3 of one of the books mentioned above.
Goal 1,000 words a day, seven days a week
- Every week we will write 7,000 words.
- Every month we will write 30,000 words (I considered 30 days a month).
In a month, we would write 15 articles on Medium of 8/9 minutes or one of the books mentioned above.
An important consideration, however, in the creation of content is not only the number of words but also the quality, probably when we write our daily goal of words, especially at the beginning, it will not be immediately publishable (if we have written an article for Medium or a blog) but one (or more) editing phases will be necessary, the same principle also applies to books where there are also further phases.
5. Other benefits
Carving out a moment for writing can also be useful for taking a moment for yourself, to calm down from everyday problems and to relax (unless you are exaggerating with the daily goal, in which case if you had to, I would probably realize it would lower it, a great goal can be challenging and push us to do more, but it must not even be a source of stress, because otherwise, it risks becoming counterproductive, if it often starts to fail to reach it there is the risk of breaking up go to despair and completely abandon this habit that could instead be useful and positive, in this case, it is better to take a step back and lower your expectations, and in any case, if I set myself the goal of writing 500 words a day, but I write 1000 not those in addition I have to delete them, the ones written in addition to their objective are only positive.
6. Conclusion
Writing every day can be a constructive habit, allowing us to write an increasingly significant number of words. Over time, we will be able to increase the number of words, and the writing quality will also improve.
Initially, I had set myself a goal of 1,000 words a day, to be able to write them I could. Still, I lacked time to do good editing, so I decided, at least for the moment, to lower my daily goal to 500 words a day ( to which, however, I will add an adequate correction phase) and to rest on Saturday and Sunday. Over time I will review my goals, and as the quality of my writing improves, I will also increase the number of words per day. In the meantime, if a few days (or maybe even Saturdays and Sundays) I have to write more words, it would be only an advantage without the anxiety about “having” to write them.
Thanks for reading; if you liked it (or even if you didn’t like it) or if you have any considerations about it, let me know in the comments.
