How to Build the Permanent Habit of a Daily Writing Ritual

…and why you’d want to

We hear it a lot. Writers are supposed to write — daily. If you don’t write daily you’re not a real writer, etc. Well, not all writers write every day. Some write in burst and take breaks. Others (like me) prefer to write every. single. day. And keep a steady production schedule without burning out, trying to meet deadlines.

There’s no judgement. I’m not trying to convert you to a daily writer if you don’t want to write daily.

You can’t build a habit for a behavior you don’t want to do. That’s the worst way to build a habit — against the wall of a behavior you dislike. But if you do want to be a daily writer (or you’ve tried to build the habit in the past, and failed) this plan is for you.

If you’re in the daily-writer camp, I’ll show you how to build a permanent, daily writing habit.

If you’re a commercial writer, you’ll gain such a high production level, your total output will be large, even if your daily word count is rather small.

If you write for fun, you’ll become a better writer in the process.

As Ray Bradbury said [paraphrased], “no one can write 52 bad short stories in a row.” Daily writing will make you better, from the sheer effort of putting pen to paper every day.

The daily writing prescription

I tried to be a daily writer for years — and failed. I studied habit-building, found the weakness in my system, and built this new plan that worked for me.

I now have the permanent, habit of daily writing. If I take a day off, it’s a deliberate choice. The default is now writing instead of not-writing.

I hope this plan helps you too.

Here’s your prescription:

1. Start with a stupid-small, daily goal. I mean really small — embarrassing small. Choose a daily word count you can’t miss unless you’re unconscious. Lack of time is not an excuse. If you’re awake you should be able to hit this goal, no matter what happens during the day. I tell people to aim for one word a day. If you want want to get real crazy, boost your goal to one sentence per day. That’s it. Trust me. Don’t make your goal any higher (stick with me on this, you’ll see).
2. Establish a tracking mechanism. Either track in your phone or paper. I like my phone because it’s always with me. There are thousands of daily habit trackers to choose from. I like the big, red X of the Don’t Break the Chain app.
3. Find your cue. Choose some kind of permanent, MORNING habit you already have in your life (making coffee, checking social, using the bathroom). This is the habit that will remind you to write. When we piggyback on a cue, we have a much higher chance of developing a new habit than by trying to force the new habit from willpower. It’s really important your cue is in the morning, because I want you to have the entire day to write your one word, not just before bed (that’s setting yourself up to fail before you start).
4. Write once you get your cue (or soon after). This is the behavioral part of the habit. All you just do is write a single word or one sentence (towards a deliberate writing project, not a text, email, or social post). Once you wrote the word, you’re done
5. Track your progress. This is your daily reward. You get to watch the daily Xs accumulate.
6. Repeat this process for at least 60 consecutive days. The first week is easy. Days 8–45 will be hard. After 45 it’s smooth-sailing. It can take 60 days or more, of daily repetition, to force your brain to make the new neural connections of a permanent habit.
7. Track your progress as long as you can stand it. Some people do this for thousands of days. Some stop at 60. The longer you reinforce the behavior you want, the more permanent your brain will make the habit.
8. Your phone is your friend. It takes a bit of getting used to thumb-typing, but I’ve added thousands of words to my word count by using mobile-writing when I’m pressed for time. Cloud-based documents allow you to transfer between laptop and phone without losing a word.

One word a day does not a writer make

I get it. You won’t finish that book with a one word writing habit. You’ll have a page and a half per year.

The beauty in this process is that one word is the minimum.

We are trying to create a daily habit first. Without the habit you can’t boost your output later. Build the habit. The prolific-ness will follow.

During the first 60 days write as much as you wish, but the only goal you should have for yourself is one word per day. If you have a bad day and only write one word, you hit your quota. Check the box. Pat yourself on the back.

After 60 days, put yourself to work.

After 60 day of daily writing, you’ve trained your brain to accept this new habit. One word becomes one page, becomes five.

I recommend a minimum of 500 words per day if you want to be a prolific, commercial writer. The daily pros clock in somewhere between 1,500–3,000 words per day. There are outliers who write 10,000 words a day, but that is not a sustainable life for anyone. Ignore them.

If you write 500 words every day, which might take you 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, you’ll finish two entire novels a year.

Not too shabby.

Write 3,000 words a day, you’ve got yourself almost 14 books a year, accumulating more than a million words in print. See where this is going?

Small, accumulated effort brings large rewards.

How bad do you want it?

Your success with daily writing depends on your motivation. Despite the easy, daily quota there is a tiny amount of willpower required to meet the goal.

You must want it. Period.

Daily writing can’t a nice-to-have, or a wish-I-did. You have to really want this habit before you should commit.

Do you want to be a commercial indie writer? Daily writing will make your career. If you enjoy journaling for personal use, a daily writing habit might be nice to have, but not something you really want.

If you want to become a daily writer bad enough — if you can taste it. Then, you’re ready.

… and if you want your future readers to buy your book when you release it, you better create a reader’s list now, so you’ll have an audience when you do publish. This should be a list you own (instead of relying on some precarious social platform). Tap the link below. Enroll in my Tribe 1K indie email masterclass. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 subscribers (and your next 1,000) without spending one hot nickel on ads.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Free Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.