Keeping a Daily Writing Practice

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“How to keep a daily writing practice” is a common theme among writing advice columns, articles, and books. I know, because I’ve read most of them. It’s been a dream of mine for decades to have a daily writing habit.

For the last ten months, I’ve written for an hour almost every weekday. I’m not going to lie. I’m just about as proud of this as anything I’ve ever done.

As the practice has solidified, I’ve tried to measure the advice that I’ve read throughout the years in an effort to see what actually helped. Mostly, though, I found that the advice was no help whatsoever.

Their Advice vs. My Reality

Here are some of the more commonly repeated bits of daily writing advice, and how they have squared up against my current writing habit.

  • “Just sit on your butt and write.” The classic argument. Sure, consistent writing is the effect, but how do I cause it to happen? Thanks for not much.
  • “You need a clean, well-lighted place.” My writing spot is cluttered right now, and dim. I love it.
  • “You need to have a target number/outline/word prompt/Ouija board/etc. to stay motivated.” Maybe. I don’t.
  • “You need to be still.” Really? I can’t write while I’m running?
  • “Take a walk/shower/yoga class/rock climbing session to get the mind working.” What happened to stillness?
  • “Eat/skip breakfast. Be sure to drink coffee/don’t drink coffee. Go to a cafe/stay at home.”

You understand where I’m coming from.

Because I have successfully maintained (and in some cases defended) a daily writing practice for ten months, I feel I have the authority to say this: there is a secret to maintaining a daily writing practice.

At Long Last, The Secret to Daily Writing

I have no idea what the secret is. It’s a secret even from me.

I’m pretty confident, however, that my secret is different than yours. It is certainly different from all of the advice writers I quoted above. They found their path, and they reported it. Good for them, I say.

If I looked back over the last several months and found one key to writing every day, I would tell you with a straight face that it was my coffee maker. A $20 Black and Decker programmable coffee maker. I set it every night, without fail. I know that if I don’t set it, I will not write. It fires up at 5 AM. So do I.

A coffee maker isn’t the only reason I write every day, but it’s the only one I can articulate. Every night, I set the trap. Every morning, the threat of unconsumed coffee gets me going.

That’s ridiculous, of course. But it’s my clean, well-lighted place, my Ouija board, my contract. It probably won’t be yours.

The reason that “sit down and write” is the boilerplate writing advice is because it’s the only part of the equation anyone can agree upon. At some point in your formula, those two things will have to happen. But for me, they’re a few steps after some pretty important rituals.

I’m sorry that I haven’t helped, but perhaps it will help if I tell you that nobody can help you. It’s a scary thing to accept that you’re on your own. Maybe it will also the moment that you stop wasting your time looking for help. Good luck.

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