Write Every Day

The best advice from successful writers

...And the most useful advice that constantly has me pulling out my hair. I start my days thinking, "I’m going to write today! It'll be glorious! I'll sit down at my desk, like a real writer, and write beautiful things." Then, I stare at my laptop for hours. I’ll pace around the house, put on music for inspiration, turn off said music after dancing around my living room for a while. I’ll troll Instagram and Pinterest for writing prompts which always feel too much like homework to inspire me. Eventually, the whole exercise collapses with me making rude gestures at the wall in my head before turning Persuasion back on (run Anne, run!).

How is it that I can force myself to do a hundred things every day I don’t want to do: go to work, pay bills, get groceries, eat vegetables, brush my hair, etc.… but I can’t do the one thing I most want to do in life? I don’t say that lightly either. I’ve been talking to the fairies in my back yard, and going on adventures with the friends in my head as far back as I can remember. When I was in fourth grade my teacher read one of my stories out loud to the class because she was so impressed with it, and I understood what being a storyteller was, and I knew I wanted to be one forever. I have hundreds of started stories strewn about the house dating back to my elementary days. In college I studied animation as a medium for telling stories. I’ll go on jags where I barely sleep and have to read 2-3 books a day to satisfy the craving for good story. Stories are my drug of choice. They are my life.

And yet…

And yet here I am, 60 pages into a book I’ve been writing for years. I have the entire story outlined. I have mountains of research, playlists of music tailored to the story, personality tests for each character, everything I could need (and a surplus of things I don’t) to write it.

So, what’s wrong? What is keeping me from doing what I love?

Here is my list of top offenders:

Bad Habits- I never developed good study habits. I participated when I felt like it and skated by my entire academic career. If I didn’t like the assignment, or if I just wasn’t in the mood, homework went uncompleted.

Perfectionism/OCD- I have a hard time moving past scenes until they are perfect. I’ve written and rewritten the first 40 or so pages of my book a hundred times. I also have a hard time skipping over tough scenes; writing things out of order gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Access to Infinite Distractions- Back in the day, shows were broadcast at specific times, and video games and books were rare gifts from my parents. If I wanted a story, I made one up. When there was nothing to do, I wrote them down. Now, I can watch anything, play anything, read anything I want, when I want.

Now that I’ve identified the problems, what am I doing to fix them?

Bad Habits- I created a website and am writing a weekly blog. This will hold me accountable to write consistently. It will hopefully build good habits, where I write even when I don’t feel like it.

Perfectionism/OCD- I am not allowing myself to reread anything I’ve typed. I’ve started carrying around journals. I hand write scenes whenever I can, then at night I type everything up. This is my one chance to edit until I am completely done with the book.

Access to Infinite Distractions- I don’t know. I haven’t come up with a reliable work around for this yet. Fulfilling the stereotype, going to coffee shops with my laptop helps, though it isn’t feasible to do this every day. Not to mention the coffee and snacks are killer on my wallet. I’m thinking about reorganizing my apartment and creating a space that is my “writing space” and a no distractions zone.

I’d love to hear what your biggest obstacles are to writing every day and what your workarounds are. How do you deal with all the distractions? I’ll follow up and let you know how my solutions are working out. Until then-

You lobster, why don't you write? Wooden postcard, circa 1907

-The End