Novel Kicks Writing Room: Develop Your Writing Habit

Today in our writing room, I wanted to talk about how important it is to develop a writing habit.

I am very guilty of not giving myself enough of a routine and being strict about it. It can be so easy for life to get in the way; that washing needs putting in, I need to tidy. It’s been a long day and i just want to have a bath and go to bed. The list can go on and on but you get the idea. A lot of my procrastination is also fear. A whole novel seems such a big task doesn’t it?

It’s time to look at it as smaller chunks of writing.

This week, look at your current writing habit. Does your current routine allow time to write? Are you finding you don’t have as much time as you’d like and the writing is the first thing to be put to one side?

Go through your diary/calendar and look at each day. Look at the moments where you could honestly schedule in fifteen minutes of writing. Put it in as though it is a work commitment. Do this for every day (it doesn’t have to be the same time every day) and be strict about keeping to it. Give yourself a reward at the end (I find this very effective for myself.)

Fifteen minutes could be done whilst watching telly or in the lunch hour or first thing when you wake up. It’s amazing how quickly the word count will rise.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.