How to Ramp Up to a Daily Writing Habit

A few questions to ask yourself, so you can bridge your gap.

I’ve written something every day of my life since I was about ten.

I actually have a strong memory of the day when I decided that I wanted to be a writer and that I was going to practice every day. I was in the sixth grade. (Because my birthday is in late October, near the cut off, I was ten in the sixth grade — one of the youngest.)

A writer named Tomie dePaola came to my school for an author visit. Even then, in 1981, he looked like a grandpa. He passed earlier this year, at 85. What I remember, vividly, is that Tomie told us that he wrote on yellow legal pads with Sharpie markers. Every day.

It was the first time that my brain made the connection between the books that I adored and the idea that someone normal wrote them. This was just — someone’s grandpa. And he wrote every day on a yellow legal pad with a Sharpie marker.

I carried those two tools with me everywhere until after high school.

I developed a strong writing habit from a young age. But sometimes that habit needs tweaking. I’ve definitely found myself lost. Writing every day, but not on any project that comes together the way I want it to. Or writing things that don’t move me toward the writing career I want.

After my second book didn’t sell the way I’d hoped it would, I found myself in a deep funk. Still writing every day, but I didn’t write fiction for a full year.

Building up a writing habit and maintaining it and making sure it’s the habit you actually want are all moving parts of the same goal — and it’s work to maintain them.

Here are some questions to consider, if you want to build your own writing habit.

How often do you write now?

Be honest with yourself. There’s no point in fudging here. And there’s no judgement. If you’re not writing regularly at all, just own that. But also, own the regular writing you do, even if it doesn’t feel like enough.

What you want here is a starting point, even if that starting point is zero.

Even a tiny amount of writing, if you do it regularly, counts. So if you write a blog post every Monday or you spend a few minutes writing your novel on your lunch hour, that counts.

Why don’t you write more?

Once you know where you’re starting from, you’ll have a gap. I love gaps. Because gaps are concrete things that can be bridged.

So, if right now you’re not writing at all or you’re writing once or twice a week, but you want to write every day — there’s your gap.

The next question to ask yourself is why the gap is there. What’s keeping you from writing more often? Maybe you’re too busy. Maybe you’re just not motivated. Or you get distracted easily.

If you’re too busy — it’s possible you aren’t prioritizing writing high enough, perhaps a mindset shift toward thinking about your writing as your job would help.

If you’re not motivated — it’s possible your writer brain is getting in the way, insisting you need your muse to show up, perhaps a routine for calling your muse would help (I like to light a yellow candle.)

If you get distracted — it’s possible you need a system, perhaps the Pomodoro Technique, to help you focus.

Whatever it is that’s keeping you from your goal, there’s a bridge out there. You need to identify it, though, so that you know which bridge to build.

Why do you WANT to write more?

It can help, immensely, to think about why a daily writing habit is something you want to build.

Maybe you have a day job you really want out of, and you’d like to replace it with writing. I’ve been there.

Maybe you have a story that’s been stirring inside you for a long time and you really want to get it out.

Maybe you just love books and you want to write one so you can knock it off your bucket list.

Maybe you want to start a blog because you’ve got something to say that you believe there’s an audience out there for.

Whatever it is, if you identify it, that thing will help motivate you toward building your daily writing habit.

Ease On Up

Here’s the good news. You don’t have to go from zero to daily overnight.

Really. You don’t.

No one is going to come take away your writer card if you go slow and easy and build up your habit. I promise.

Start where you are. That might be no regular writing. It might be four days a week. Maybe it’s already a daily habit, but that habit isn’t very focused.

Decide on what your habit will be. If you’re starting from zero, your habit might just be writing once a week, at a regular, set time. If you already do that, or you already write more often, just acknowledge it and start there for week one.

If you’re like me, by the way, and you already have a solid daily writing habit — your habit might actually be what you’re writing, not that you’re writing at all. For instance, recently I’ve struggled to finish a novel that I was halfway through for longer than I care to admit. I was already writing every day, but I needed to shift my habit so that it became writing every day on that novel.

Next week, add a day. Just one day. When that feels solid, add another one. And keep going until you’re showing up every day for your craft.

This calendar is my favorite tool for creating and maintaining a writing habit.

Create your own daily writing habit.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation, Rebel Nation, The Astonishing Maybe, and Center of Gravity. She is the original Ninja Writer.