4 Great Ways To Build a Daily Writing Regimen

Want to be a writer? You need to build a healthy routine.

Why write daily? I mean, is it really necessary?

The short answer is yes.

The longer answer is still yes, but with some explanation.

Ultimately, becoming a decent writer means exercising — in a way. You could reasonably compare it to trying to get more physically fit. You will not lose any flab or gain any muscle by sitting in front of the TV all day. You need to do the physical workouts on a regular schedule. Serious fitness buffs work out each and every day.

And the results show.

Writing is much the same. You need to practice writing regularly to build the skills you need to become a good writer. But, dare I suggest, if you write every day, you can become a great writer.

Or, at least, pretty darn decent.

But easier said than done, right?

Well, yes. But, I do have a few tips and strategies you can do to make the journey easier.

Read on.

Record your progress

Keeping track of your word count seems like a superficial sort of metric, but the fact is that being able to see a record of accomplishment can go a long way in encouraging daily practice.

When I first got serious about becoming a writer, I kept track of my daily word counts down to the last word. No rounding up or down for me. If I write 738 words one day, that’s what I jotted down in my daily journal. If I wrote 1,023, that’s what I write down.

If I wrote 5, that’s what got written down. (This happened once, I sat down to write but immediately got a phone call from a friend with a free ticket to a Pogues show downtown, but I had to pick him up right away. Worth it.)

In any case, keep a log of your daily word count. Look at that each time you finish a writing session. Look at it each time you sit down to begin a writing session.

Feel encouraged.

Eventually, you’ll get confident enough in your own output to not need to record your word count. But when you’re just getting started, it’s a helpful tool.

Write now, edit later (if at all)

Back when I was in college, there was this thing called “freewriting.”

I don’t know if it’s still a thing, but the basic idea was to sit down with a piece of paper (no proper laptops back then) and just write without stopping to edit. The goal was to get the ideas down on paper. To get words written.

Editing could be done later.

The process helped get me started on a lot of term papers. I’d divide a project up into sections, write out my thoughts on that particular topic or subtopic, and then let it sit for a day or two.

After my writing stayed in a drawer for a bit, I’d take it out again and get to work editing. It’d be more than just fixing grammar and punctuation, but also rewording sentences so they read better and looking up specific references to back up some of my work.

Years later (many years later), when I stumbled into a career as a freelance writer, I found the process worked just as well.

Sure, there was some research involved first. I learned about my subject and jotted down a list of points, but then I’d take each point and free-write a few paragraphs.

After an hour or so, I’d have some rough paragraphs for each subhead in my freelance article. Then I’d go back through and edit, edit, and edit.

The hard part was done.

After a couple of years, I find I need to edit less as my writing comes out pretty well, even in the first draft stage. (I do edit, still. But it takes less time now.)

So take the freewriting approach. Don’t overthink or try to get things perfect the first time out. Instead, dare to write a crappy first draft.

You can always edit.

Consider writing a routine

The best way to do this is to find a time of day that you’re confident you can commit to and write, uninterrupted, for 15 or 30 minutes.

To start.

Back in the day, I had a routine where I wrote every day for the 20 minutes between when I typically finished by diner-breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns and when I had to go to work at the print shop next door.

That was a great routine. I eventually added an hour each night before bed.

That was just my exercise period.

These days, I have an hour in the morning to myself before my family gets up. I make a cup of tea. I write. It’s great.

At night, I really get down to business and am writing for another four or five hours, depending on my work assignments.

Even when I’m traveling, I manage to get these times in — or as close as reasonably possible.

By maintaining a regular writing routine, you gradually turn writing into a habit. Whether you’re writing poetry, or a book, or a dozen ghost-written blogs about basic cybersecurity, having a set time for writing makes it easier to get into your writing groove.

Your brain treats it like a habit.

This is the good kind of habit.

Encourage it.

Keep a notebook to jot down ideas

I’m a bit of a notebook fetishist.

I have a notebook in my car, next to the couch, beside the bed, in the bathroom, in my briefcase, on the porch, and on the back porch. Notebooks are everywhere.

This doesn’t count the note apps on my phone, which are synced to cloud apps I can access almost anywhere.

What’s with all the notes?

Well, I’m never at a loss for something to write about.

Writer’s block is rarely a problem.

Ideas come at inconvenient times, but the most inconvenient times are when you have no way of recording the thought before it disappears. So write your ideas down as soon as you get them. It doesn’t have to be more than a line or two. Even the idea for a title is good enough.

You can leave the notebooks as they are, or, once a week, you can take your mobile device and open up a text file with a cloud app and copy the ideas from your various notebooks to a master list online. You can then consult this whenever you sit down to write but aren’t sure what to write about.

At the very least, they’re good starters. Don’t feel compelled to stay on topic if the mood strikes you to veer off onto another subject.

The idea is to get writing.

Building a healthy habit

Human beings are creatures of habit.

This is a good thing. If there’s a skill you want to build or improve upon, having an effective routine makes that task easier. Want to become a skilled guitar player? Practice each day. Want to become a professional artist? Draw or paint every day.

Likewise, if you wish to be a halfway decent writer, you need to establish a routine that features you sitting down and writing.

Each and every day.

It’s easier than you think.

Cheers!

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.