#WRITING CHALLENGE FOR BEGINNERS PRO#
#WRITING CHALLENGE FOR BEGINNERS CODE#
#WRITING CHALLENGE FOR BEGINNERS PROFESSIONAL#

How a daily writing habit makes you better.

Remember: It’s one thing to call yourself a writer it’s quite another to actually write. The goal is to just get going and to get better and more consistent as we go. If you missed your word count, blew your scheduled time, and wrote a bunch of malarkey - but you still get to check “yes” - then consider the day a success. Get up tomorrow and do it again. At the end of the day, there is one box you need to check, and it reads: I’m not kidding when I say what you write about doesn’t matter.

Write a letter to your kids… or one to yourself.

Write a section of a chapter to that book you’ve been working on.

Still, if you need a prompt or two, here are some ideas: All you’re trying to do is show up, to be consistent enough to start practicing and get good. If you haven't formed a habit yet, your writing probably isn't that good. Sounds good, right? But, you might be thinking, “What if I don't know what to write?” Great question. Within months, you’ll be surprised how much easier writing comes to you. If it helps, join the My 500 Words 30-day writing challenge. I try to shoot for 500.ĭo this over and over and over again, as often as you can.

In my experience, anything from 300-1000 is sufficient to forming a writing habit. Hemingway was renowned for writing 1500 words one day and 300 the next. This can be a hundred words or ten thousand. It doesn’t matter if you have any idea what you’re going to write until you commit to a time, you will never get into a daily rhythm of writing. You need to show up every day at this time and put your butt in the chair. Whatever it is, just try to make it consistent. But the idea is that this is special, sacred even. It can be your dining room table or a desk, even the couch.

Pick a space. You need an environment that is conducive to your writing.

There are three steps, I’ve found, to starting a daily writing habit. 3 steps to starting a daily writing habit And it’s what you and I must do, too, if we're going to get serious about our craft. They don't beat the fear or fight through it they do the thing afraid. Do it so frequently that you don't even have to think about it, so much that your brain doesn't have time to feel fear. You do this by forming a habit of writing every day. The solution, though, is not beat the fear but to trick it. So how do you get up every day and write? This is the question that plagues those of us who struggle to stay motivated in our creative lives.

#WRITING CHALLENGE FOR BEGINNERS PRO#

The amateur quits the pro never gives up.

#WRITING CHALLENGE FOR BEGINNERS PROFESSIONAL#

The difference between a professional and an amateur is simple - it’s practice. But what we do with these gifts and opportunities is what separates the outliers from the rest of the pack. Of course, we all have skills we've inherited and opportunities we didn't deserve. It forces you to give up your misconceptions about writing and embrace the truth. Forming a daily writing habit isn't easy.

With that said, don't get any funny ideas in your head about writing being some kind of mystical process that doesn't require effort on your part. Before you know it, you will have created a habit.

Just concentrate on what you will write today. This is what real writers do: they write every single day. You can write a little bit today, just because you enjoy it. You can write for the love of it, not the dread of it. You can choose to treat your writing like a discipline, another daily chore to be endured, or as a privilege that it is. Not something you had to force yourself to do for fear of punishment, but rather something that you enjoyed so much it was difficult to avoid. Imagine that your writing was so ingrained into your daily set of practices that it was hard to give up. Can you relate? I sure can.Ĭontrast that definition with that of a habit:Ī settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. not writing every day), they punish themselves. They subject themselves to a set of rules, and when they break those rules (i.e. Does that sound fun or what? This, however, epitomizes the way many writers treat their craft.

#WRITING CHALLENGE FOR BEGINNERS CODE#

The practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience. But is this true? It raises an important question: Is writing a discipline or a habit? Something I often hear writers say is they’d like to write more frequently but lack the discipline.

Writing challenge for beginners