Establishing a Writing Habit
Jodi Cleghorn in her post The 21 Days of NaNoWriMo « Write Anything basically reveals what I think is the real benefit of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) – establishing a writing habit. It is a lot like Self Magazine’s March Makeover (do they still do that?), which helped to establish a healthy eating and exercise habit in the participant’s life.
I write for a living, so essentially I’m writing everyday. However, it’s “reactionary” writing. When I had a cubicle job, I wrote in reaction to the day’s goals and deadlines. Now with my freelance clients, I write in reaction to the specific project deadlines. This is great for learning how to circumvent “writer’s block,” but it is not conducive to forming a writing habit.
Since I’ve ventured into the freelance periodical market, I am training myself to research and write in the mornings and early afternoons, and market in the late afternoons. I’ve established a routine, which mimics in some respects my cubicle days. It gives a sense of structure to my day, and slowly the schedule becomes habitual – much like an actual job.
My responsibility towards my clients keeps me on track and motivated in my work. I am hoping NaNoWriMo jumpstarts my personal creative writing projects – beyond journaling for three pages every morning. I want to write towards a goal.
So, I’ve pledged to write a 50,000 word piece of fiction by the end of November. I’ve set aside a few hours every morning before my “day job” to work on this. I would like to reach the word goal by November 30, but regardless I’ll be a winner if I have established a writing habit by the end.
