Editor’s Picks — Top 10: Writing Is a Habit, Not an Art

Follow these top 10 writers who can’t quit the habit of writing well

Ann Handley writes in her book Everybody Writes, “We’re tempted to think that writing is an art, that only an anointed lucky few can do it well. But that’s an excuse — a justification that lets the lazy among us off the hook for being the communication equivalent of a couch potato: flabby, unmotivated, inarticulate. But the truth is that the key to being a better writer is, essentially, to be a more productive one. Or more simply, the key to being a better writer is to write.”

So sit in front of your laptop. Remove distractions. Open your ideas or drafts folder and start writing: one sentence at a time.

Ernest Hemingway, Maya Angelou, CharlesDickens, and Oliver Sacks started writing at one particular time every day to cultivate the habit of writing. Every writer has a different writing target.

To work your writing muscle, you must commit to show up for work. Initially, it can feel a little painful. But if you want to develop the habit of writing, you have to continue even when you feel like not writing.

“Write like crap if you have to. But write every day. Keep the streak alive,” ~ Beth Dunn, an editor for HubSpot

Author Jeff Goins also supports the idea of developing the habit. He says, “Spending five hours on a Saturday writing isn’t nearly as valuable as spending 30 minutes a day every day of the week. Especially when you’re just getting started.”

Goins says that if you do something for only one day in a week, it is not a habit. He goes on to say that if you write only once a week, there is a chance that you’ll quit it in the near future.

David Huddle, in his book The Writing Habit, says, “A real writing life is not something you do merely for a day or a month or a year.” He believes that the act of sitting down to write unlocks the writer’s potential. According to Huddle, “For a writer, the one truly valuable possession is the ongoing work — the writing habit, which may take some getting used to, but which soon becomes so natural as to be almost inevitable.”

Once you develop your writing muscle and writing habit, it will be difficult for you to quit writing. When that day — when you can’t quit — arrives, you can call yourself a professional writer.

Here is the list of top 10 writers who can’t seem to quit writing:

10. Why You Should Never Let A Boy Come Between You And Your Pie

Geri Shumer is a travel enthusiast, dog lover, and a freelance writer. In this excellent story, she shows us some do’s and don’ts when it comes to eating pies. Don’t miss this one.

I LOVE pecan pie, but I stopped eating it for 30 years. Why, you ask?

Funny story.

Well, not funny at the time, but funny now that I look back with my 50-year-old brain.

You see, when I was 15, I was dating a boy. He was my first serious boyfriend and we were inseparable. He and I shared a lot of common interests and one of them was food.

9. This Is Why They Didn’t Want Blacks to Vote

Vanessa Robinson is an Electrical Engineer and a writer. She likes to write about justice and politics. If you read her story, you’ll fall in love with her writing voice.

The states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia are hot spots right now. Well — perhaps not as much as it was since Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have certified their electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden as of today.

There were three other states in contention; Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. (Nevada recently certified its electoral vote.) But the protests for President Trump in those states were muted; the fervor was not as strong. There are a few reasons for this. It’s not that these three states aren’t diverse, but they are less diverse, at least in regards to Black people. Arizona’s black population is 4%. Nevada? 8.6%. New Mexico is 2.6% black.

8. Why Biden Should Not Forgive Student Debt

AJ Krow is a writer, editor, and teacher. If you enjoy reading this story, you should definitely check this excellent writer’s other work.

As of this writing, the student debt in the U.S. is a whopping $1.7 trillion. As each week drudges on, tuition goes higher and higher.

On average, college students graduate with a bachelor’s degree and $30,000 in debt. College graduates have to hunt for a job to pay off their debt while saving money, buying a car to get to and from work, take out a mortgage to live with their significant other while paying bills, and raising their kids.

Some have suggested the Biden administration should forgive student debt. Is this the answer? What are the intentions behind doing so, and what would be the result?

7. It’s Time to Focus on Anticipation and Pleasure

Tree Langdon is an excellent writer. Her poetry will help you connect with our collective self. She is an editor of Illumination and Illumination-Curated as well. Do check her other work.

We willingly connect our lives to bevelled gears that move in sync. They keep precisely measured time. A counted life, allotments made.

6. A New World Order

Stuart Englander writes to inspire. He loves to write film reviews. If you choose to read this story, you’ll become a fan for life.

They arrived as a group of two dozen adventurers to find a barren and desolate plain, and there was no turning back now. Within a few years of sweat and toil, they turned the soil into a burgeoning landscape, and ultimately, it became a fully functioning ecosystem. This group of like-minded pioneers had much to be proud of, not the least of which was the creation of a new community, a garden of prosperity.

Marvin Stafford perched on his favourite boulder, a pinkish-red block just outside his door. He stared across the still, rough landscape outside the compound, reminiscing over the past fifty years. He’d been here from the beginning, an unlikely leader who became the driving force behind the village’s success.

5. Advice that changed my Writing style

Muda El Masry’s brilliant advice is an asset to be bookmarked. You have missed it, but once you read it, you’d want to read more from Muda El Masry.

As much as I have internalized inspirational messages like “write the book you want to read” and “believe in your writing”, I still procrastinate and feel down about the quantity and quality of my stories. Change is easier said than done. But on rare occasions, I find a piece of writing advice that triggers a metamorphosis. My entire mind shifts and I become an altogether different type of writer behaving in ways I had never tempted before, these are three pieces of writing advice that changed my life.

The image is not blank — there is a pen to the far left that is not visible in the thumbnail.

4. The Real Reasons People Resist Change (But Won’t Tell You)

Jessica Donahue, PHR is a talent management consultant. She is a talented writer. If you have missed her masterpiece, please read it now.

Imagine this — You’ve come up with a brilliant new idea, technology, or way of doing things that has the potential to do tremendous things for the team, the business, and the company.

You jump up and exclaim, “Great news, everyone — I found a better way!” expecting the team to applaud your innovative thinking and rally around you to make your idea a reality.

Instead, you’re greeted with blank stares and variations of, “No.” Why?

“Now’s not a good time.”

“It’s been done before.”

“That’s not the way we do things around here.”

“It’s complicated.”

3. Anatomy of a Political Cartoon

John Emmerling is a Simon & Schuster author. His writing style is entertaining and informative. Follow him right now and enjoy his superb writing skills.

I was a Madison Avenue creative director for three decades. I’ve created thousands of ideas for ads and commercials. I’ve written books and op-ed columns. And have a long history of doodling disrespectful cartoons.

People sometimes ask:

“Where do you get all your ideas?”

I tell them it gets easier with practice. I even wrote a book about my six-step process for idea-making (Simon & Schuster). So, I definitely don’t need any outside help coming up with ideas.

Until (as recently happened) I do.

2. How To Shift Your Writing Into The Big Leagues.

Tree Langdon is an excellent writer. She is talking about the different stages a writer has to go through to become a great writer. She is an editor of Illumination and Illumination-Curated as well. Do check her other work.

Every business goes through many stages, from inception to success.

It can be a struggle for the owner to adapt as things change over time. Growing pains occur, as what began as a small one-man show expands into a larger shop with employees to manage.

There are stages every business goes through. Becoming aware of what they are is part of the solution.

These stages can be applied to your writing business.

1. Bitcoin Will Make You Richer And Here’s Why

Another big one by Isaiah McCall. Read it to learn the secrets of writing well and becoming rich.

Bitcoin is going to change the world — and if you take a second to learn about it, you’ll understand why. After an abysmal 2018 to 2019 stretch, Bitcoin is nearing an all-time high. The price is up 166% this year and big-name investors don’t think it’s going to stop.

Why is Bitcoin rallying right now? Because more people are starting to accept, and trust it as a currency.

Final Thoughts

If your story was selected as one of the Top 10, please share another one of your stories in the comments with a brief introduction and a short review that can convince a reader to read your piece. (Please write the review in the third person and start it with your name.)

I must have missed something today. I cannot read every story on Illumination and Illumination-Curated. Dr Mehmet Yildiz, the Chief Editor and Founder of Illumination and Illumination-Curated, read, highlighted, and applauded every good story when he started his publications. He still reads almost all of the good ones. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the masterpieces.

Dr Mehmet Yildiz has kindly allowed our top 10 series a full shelf on the front page of Illumination-Curated and Illumination:

So, help me. Help me to find and rank the best work of the writers of Illumination and Illumination-Curated.

Happy reading.

To improve your odds of success as a writer, read these curation guidelines.

You can read my curated stories here.

Note: It was Ann Handley who said this: Writing Is a Habit, Not an Art — in her book Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.