I’ve reached the point of desperation in my efforts to start and maintain a writing schedule. With the new year, I had hoped to begin writing for a few hours during the early morning, like 8:00 am to 10:30 am, before telemarketers, postmen, emails, and neighbors filled my day. In December, I told myself I was definitely going to do this, I told my friends I was going to do it, I even envisioned myself sticking to a regular morning writing schedule until I gleefully finished my novel.
Yet, so far, the next day resembles the one before: I take care of “stuff” and don’t write a word of fiction. My manuscript is just as long as it was in November.
Naturally I have well-justified reasons for not following through with my plan to write several hours a day. These always involve other projects pressing hard for immediate attention. “This will just take an hour or so,” I hear. “You can write after you mail this,” is another one. “You need to water the plants before they wilt,” “dust the bookshelves before someone comes,” “review Dan’s query letter,” “organize your crowded desk,” or (and this is common) “just answer your emails first.” That last one wouldn’t be so bad if my inbox only had 3 or 4 unopened emails, but 40 of them is going to take time.
Then before I know it my wall clock informs me it’s one in the afternoon and I haven’t written a word of fiction. 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 long term behavior change is to introduce new habits slowly and in small increments. Likewise, in Tiny Habits, author B.J. Fogg points out that tiny habits involve less risk, yet these small adjustments will add up over time to bring big results.
These authors would agree I have been aiming too high. This week I’ll 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, dusting, organizing, watering the plants, and cleaning the kitchen.
- Before putting my computer to sleep for the evening, 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.
- 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, commit 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. Yet for starting a new writing habit, it’s much better than no time at all.
With this revision to my New Year’s Resolution, I may yet be able to stick to a creative writing schedule. Perhaps by summer, this new tiny habit will have grown into a bigger, more productive one.
Happy New Year!
Ann
