Did I say that this daily writing thing is easy? Just kidding. I know better. Yesterday's post here was a pretty good, honestly--substantive even. I intended to do my fiction pages, but didn't before heading to the night job. I wasn't feeling that good anyway, and by the time I got through the job last night, I felt like one of the walking dead.
I got back here, showered, to try to get rid of the achiness and went to bed. So, no words written last night.
Maybe it is safe to assume it will be like taking one step forward and two steps back. The flow of progress is shaky and there will be missteps (and back steps) to this whole daily writing thing. To use my longsuffering analogy of the getting back on the horse when it throws you, I'll will say it is just that which the writer must do.
I fell down so now I have to get up again. (I did hit my words today, by the way.)
However, rather than using a missed daily goal as a reason to beat myself up, it makes more sense to recognize some of the big picture concepts behind the establishment of a daily writing habit. Really, these are the sort of things mentioned all the time in articles on this very topic, but one word jumps out at me right now.
Consistency.
That's really what it is about. The whole habit formation thing is about developing consistency. Yeah, maybe you'd say "Duh, of course, you have to be consistent. That's what a 'daily' habit is."
Okay. I know. But, sometimes the obvious when boiled down to a single word can be useful. One word, one focus, one concept to meditate on. So, consistency, is the focus for me right now. That's what I'm striving for ultimately, some consistency in my writing. I am prioritizing my writing. It cannot be just something I do here or there, letting days weeks, even months pass between periods of writing. That's the definition of inconsistent, isn't it?
To make this a habit, I have to give it priority, make time and space for it in the day, and keep following through on the 'appointment' every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment