Photo of woman at desk writing by Darius Bashar from Unsplash
I’ve reached the point of desperation in my efforts to start and maintain a writing routine. With the start of this new year, I had hoped to begin writing for a few hours during the morning, like 8:00 am to 10:30 am, before telemarketers, postmen, emails, letters, and neighbors filled my day. In December, I told myself I was definitely going to develop and stick with a writing routine. I promised my friends I was going to do it, I told my sister I was going to do it, and I quietly envisioned myself sticking to a regular morning writing routine until I gleefully finished my collection of stories.Yet so far, the months, weeks, and days have been busy but largely unproductive. I take care of “stuff” like paying bills, running errands, cooking and cleaning, spending time with my pets, and working on an occasional project, but seldom have I written a page of fiction. Seven months into the new year I’ve edited pages I’ve already written, but have rarely added new ones. I can justify most of the reasons I haven’t followed through with my plan to write every day, but in the end, I know I’ve failed.
A separate project will land on my desk and I’ll think, “Oh, this will just take an hour. I can write after I finish this.” Or, “I must take care of these emails…people are depending on me. They won’t take that long.” But alas, they do. Tasks, whether scheduled or not, devour my time like a sheep eats grass…completely. Before I realize it, my wall clock informs me it’s one in the afternoon and I haven’t composed a single page. Clearly, desire and eagerness are not enough to build a new habit—not for me, anyway.
In Atomic Habits, author James Clear advises that a key to behavior change lies in starting new habits slowly and in small increments. Likewise, in Tiny Habits, author B.J. Fogg points out that tiny habits involve less risk, even though the small adjustments can foster big results. These authors would agree I’ve been aiming too high.
This week I plan to take their advice to start small, real small, so that the other tasks on my To-Do list won’t think this smidgeon of writing time threatens their existence. Thus, my new writing schedule looks like this:
- During the previous evening, make sure “pressing” issues are dealt with, including answering emails, organizing, watering the plants, and cleaning the kitchen.
- Before putting my computer to sleep, I’ll open the directory with my work-in-progress files and close everything else. That way, when I touch the computer in the morning, that project folder is the first thing I’ll see.
- In addition, I’ll place the last few pages of my work-in-progress right in the middle of my desk.
- During the first hour of the next day, I’m committed to composing new lines in my current project for a full 20 minutes. The way I see it, unless I’m sitting in a dentist’s chair, 20 minutes isn’t too long. But for starting a new writing habit, it’s a whole lot better than no time at all.
Happy writing,
Ann
Ann is a former English & Computer Science teacher, tech writer, and instructional designer. She has a B.A. in English & a Masters in Computer Science. She has written and published many short stories and articles and has co-authored and copy-edited numerous books. She’s won writing awards in numerous categories, including flash fiction. She lives in southeastern Utah and has been a member of RMFW for years, attending the Western Slope meetings when she can. She’s president of the Just Write chapter for the League of Utah Writers.