Summary

The article discusses the transformative benefits of daily writing, emphasizing the shift from being writer "blocked" to writer "flowing" through consistent practice.

Abstract

The author shares a personal journey of overcoming writing impediments by adopting a daily writing routine, which has led to increased productivity, happiness, and effortless idea generation. The article encourages writers to embrace a "write, just write" philosophy, suggesting that the act of writing itself can lead to monumental discoveries and a continuous flow of ideas. The author contrasts their previous reliance on inspiration and perfectionism with the newfound ability to engage in "micro-writing" and to write without the pressure of immediate greatness. The routine has become a crucial part of the author's day, akin to a morning yoga practice, framing their mindset for creativity and productivity.

Opinions

The author believes that a daily writing habit is key to transformation in writing productivity and personal fulfillment.
Writing routines are highly individual and should be tailored to what works best for the writer.
The process of writing is seen as a journey of discovery, where ideas and inspiration often arise during the act of writing, rather than preceding it.
Editing is considered a separate process from the initial act of writing, allowing for uninhibited idea capture.
The article suggests that the habit of writing can significantly enhance one's ability to generate ideas, contrasting with the author's previous struggle to come up with new concepts.
The author emphasizes the importance of starting the day with writing to frame the mind for continuous idea generation and creativity, similar to the impact of starting the day with physical exercise like yoga.

Write! Right?!

Write Every Day — You’ll Get Astonishing Benefits!

35 posts in July and 50+ stories in the queue — you can do it too!

**(Yipee! I write every day!)** Photo by Guille Álvarez on Unsplash

This won’t be one of those stories.

The one where I tell you how I cracked a writing sound-barrier of some kind, or got “x” number of views or reads, or made a certain amount of money.

Rather, it’s a story of transformation. It’s news you can use, now and forever, definitely.

In the past, I had to be inspired to write. There HAD to be something I wanted to say. I HAD to be able to say it well … at the outset. My message HAD to be monumental. And so forth. LOTS of requirements, and therefore LOTS of impediments to writing. All before I could even sit down to write word one. No surprise, I had NO writing behavior groove.

You can easily imagine that I went weeks or even months without putting pen to paper or sitting at the computer writing. I rarely journaled, because even journaling came bound with its own set of “have to’s.” Time was also an issue, and there was never enough of it to make journaling a priority. Even the point of journaling escaped me. Almost always, my self-doubting and self-deprecating internal dialogue spoke, saying “you’ve likely got nothing to say.”

So guess what? I wrote nearly nothing.

If you’re stuck as I was, please read on.

As I described in another story below, I’ve now got my writing routine down. I’m much happier, much more productive and find that idea generation comes easily.

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So …

How can you go from writer “blocked” to writer “flowing?”

What are the benefits you’ll realize from making this change?

Writer “Flow”

You can get there by subscribing to the message contained in three words. Write, just write. And, the more you write, the more you’ll want to write.

Decide on a daily or almost-daily routine that works for you and write, just write.

Some advocate interspersing reading or reading first, then writing, but it’s your routine that’s key.

My routine is a morning one. The second cup of coffee finds me at the keyboard writing something. That’s now become a “have to” for me. If something gets in the way and I don’t write, I’m unfulfilled. And, trust me when I say that I’m distinctly not trying for writing greatness here. I just write. Whatever thoughts are dancing around in my cranium find their way unedited onto the page.

BTW — editing happens later and is a different process.

“Writer’s Mindset” or “Framing”

Since I start my day by writing, that seems to frame the rest of the day for me. Because I awaken to writing and idea generation as nearly my first activities, both more writing and more ideas seem to naturally occur throughout the course of the day. To me it feels like the mental equivalent of starting my day with yoga. The physicality of yoga would “frame” or direct the remainder of my day. I’d somehow feel stronger or more fit because my day began with an activity designed to improve my strength and fitness. The same is true for writing.

“Micro-Writing”

I’ve also found that I can now “micro-write,” something I was never able to do before. Remember I’m the guy who needed something monumental to motivate me to write. And I HAD to have something monumental to say. I had to think, think, think and work it all out in my head. Only then could I birth a story, like Athena bursting forth fully formed from Zeus’ forehead, or I wasn’t happy.

Now I can flash on something, jot it down, add it to a piece in progress and move on. This now happens multiple times per day. A few lines get jotted down and then a few more later, then still more. I’m often adding material to several works-in-progress in a day.

Bottom line — the flow of ideas as well as the flow of your writing will increase markedly simply by making writing a habit, a daily habit.

Discovery

As described, I thought that in order to write, I had to have something big to say. Right then, at the moment of the writing. So long blank stretches of no writing would occur as I waited for inspiration and grand thoughts before writing.

Now the process is largely flipped. I write, just write, and discover that, some days, I do in fact have something to say. That journey of discovery starts by setting off down the writing road. The discoveries and the inspirations occur through the process of writing.

Idea Generation

My idea generation has improved too. I used to struggle to generate a single idea in months. It got to the point where I thought senility was creeping in and my writing days were behind me. Other writers seemed to have no trouble with idea generation, so what was wrong with me?

Then my “flip” occurred. Again, the practice or the habit of writing led to almost non-stop idea generation.

I hate to use cliches and I know we’re really not supposed to, but practice really does make perfect when it comes to idea creation. Or, at least, practice produces productivity and this translates to idea generation.

If any of this resonated with you, give some, or even all, of these ideas a try. Really, what have you got to lose? At the very least, if you do decide to write more and more freely in the ways I’ve outlined above, you’ll have generated lots of new stories and new ideas. That’s always a good thing.