Writing Advice With Abby

Writing Habits

I often struggle to write consistently and keep solid writing habits. I've talked to published and unpublished writers alike who have struggled like me.

When I struggle most is when my life undergoes a series of dramatic events — marriage, school, exhausting work schedule, a family death or emergency.

These all become a reason to stop, mostly because my brain pushes writing aside as a "hobby" rather than an ongoing life goal that makes me whole again once I've written. I feel distinctly unmoored when I haven't written in a long time.

I didn't recognize this feeling of being unmoored until I attended a talk by Maggie Stiefvater, my favorite author (and one of my favorite humans). She recently released Greywaren, the finale to her decade-old series The Raven Cycle. Stiefvater spoke about putting story and reality together — melding these two elements into her writing — to create adventures that take readers on the ride of their lives, primarily because readers see themselves in the characters she writes.

I also strive to do this in my writing today. One of the reasons I write is because I know my characters are people — real beings in my head — that I want to honor. In honoring my characters by writing their stories, I also strive to honor my readers by creating believable, real characters.

We'll talk more about story and reality in a future chapter, but for now, let's focus on making habits.

I thrive the most when I make a daily writing habit. I thrive the most when I recognize that habit as having a purpose: to make story and reality clash together for a wild, exciting adventure to bring readers joy, sadness, and hope.

But life gets in the way. For example:

1. a hectic school schedule

2. lack of sleep or energy or motivation or all three

3. the fear of failure

4. an emergency (or five. all at once.)

5. a pandemic that leaves you hopeless

For me, #5 left me feeling like I couldn't be a writer for many months. I didn't have the energy or motivation to write, then I felt guilty I wasn't writing — I felt guiltier that I was sitting around watching Netflix. Then that cycle repeated. Not writing. Guilt. Not writing. Guilt. And so on.

I read so many articles on making solid habits. I know how to make a habit. The issue is making that habit stick, giving myself room to breathe, and being kind to myself when I fail.

If you're trying to make a writing habit, I'd like to give you some practical tips I've learned over the years that have helped me in various stages of my life:

#1 Make a goal of some kind to keep your story alive in your mind.

This goal might be based on minutes: Today, I'll write for 15 minutes at the kitchen table. Your goal might be based on words: Today, I'll write 100 words. Whenever I set a goal (a sentence a day), it helps me keep the story alive in my mind. When you come back to a story every day, your story stays alive. I find myself working out plot issues in the shower, at work, or on a walk when I make a solid weekly habit to write.

#2 Track your writing to see your progress.

I like to use Forest, a productivity app that plants a virtual tree whenever I "focus" for any amount of time. I use this app to do 10-25-minute writing "sprints" — dedicated moments of time to write as much as I can within the allotted time. I've used this sprinting method with friends (planting a tree together to focus on writing). Afterward, I'm able to see the "forest" that I've created over a week, month, year, and more.

There are other methods as well. Search on Google "ways to track writing," and you'll find various methods that have worked for other writers. Like most stuff in the writing world, tracking your goals isn't a one-size-fits-all. Sometimes tracking stuff freaks writers out. Maybe you're a free spirit, and #2 makes you write less? Then don't do it!

Only do what works for you. But stick with something for a little bit to see if it works, because challenging yourself can be a blessing.

3# Write in community.

If you have a friend, family member, or coworker who is interested in writing, why not ask them to write with you? I've done this virtually, over text, starting a timer at 9:00 pm to see how many words we can write together. At 9:30 pm, I'll text my friend to see how much she wrote. Together, we celebrate our word count, whether it be 1 word or 1,000 words!

If you have someone who is supportive of you in your life, consider asking them to encourage you while you're writing. My husband, for example, is my cheerleader even though writing is like an unknowable darkness for him. I tell him and my non-writer friends whenever I'm working on a book. I give them updates on the story or characters, or I'll blab like a heretic about my magic systems.

(Side Note: Thank you, Husband, for dealing with my obsession with my latest creature, something that's essentially made of necromantic primordial goo. It's so cool and goopy!)

Don't be afraid to partner with someone you don't know, either. I've also gone online to forums or Twitter to partner with a virtual writing buddy when there was no one to support me. The forums on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) or Twitter helped me immensely when I was writing Seize the Day, the first book in my Wattpad trilogy. There are incredible people on these forums looking to support other writers because they've been there, too!

Other ways I write in community is by participating in NaNoWriMo if I have a project. NaNoWriMo challenges you to write 50,000 words in one month, roughly 1,667 words a day! I'm doing it for November 2022. I'm writing a spinoff book for the Seize the Day series (that I'll be posting in the next year *wink wink*). Here's what I'm doing to prepare myself for writing:

• —> I'm setting up writing "meetups" with two of my good friends to work on stories together during November. I'm writing with FRIENDS this month so I can write through the hard days of cold and darkness. (All my buddies with S.A.D., ya know what I mean.)

• —> I'm being kind to myself. If I miss a day, it's okay. For me, the point is to continue writing, to continue moving forward.

• —> I'm making a cover for my book to encourage me along. I'm a visual person, so having a visual representation of my book helps me realize that what I'm writing is Something. An official Something! A BOOK! Not just a story, but a book!

• —> I'll be keeping my friends and husband updated on my progress, so they can be cheerleaders as well.

Final Thoughts

All that said, I'm making an emphasis on being kind to yourself. Even if you can't write today, you can write tomorrow. You can make habits. You can be a writer. And, again, if you've written a single word of any story, you are a writer already. So you're off to a pretty good start. ;)

Cheers to your writing,

Abby

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