The Little Eden Diaries: New habits begin with small things

 The Little Eden Diaries

(OR Chronicles of an Author come Accidental Guinea Pig Farmer)

Making writing a daily habit.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and it doesn't matter what that journey actually represents, whether it be a literal trip to someplace or learning a new skill or doing the day's chores or, given I'm a writer (when I can get my sh*t together), writing a novel or a blog or even a post on SM. The only damn way stuff is gunna get done, is to get on and get it done! If necessary: One. Step. At. A. Time.

Or one word at a time. Because one word today and tomorrow and the next day is already three words that weren't there yesterday and one word generally leads to another word and another and another until you have a sentence, a paragraph,, a page, a chapter, and A NOVEL! Fancy that. 🙄

I'm a procrastinator, a super-specific procrastinator because, oddly enough, I procrastinate most often about the one thing I actually enjoy the most: writing. Then again, perhaps it isn't so odd. It's all tied up in mindset and emotional hard-wiring after all. That last part, however, is for another day and not why I dropped by today. No, today is about forming positive habits in the first place and, in this instance, more specifically, the habit of writing on a daily basis. 

I've read the advice many, many times: make a habit of your writing. Stephen King, apparently, never fails to write two thousand words a day. It's his first task of the day, a day-starter if you will. Clearly, it works for him, and there are many who follow his advice and do the same. I'm not sure I could ever efficiently write 2k a day, however, and that's not actually the point. The point is to permit time in your day to write and to not only *permit* time but to *make* time. We make time for everything else in our day: coffee, meal breaks, brushing our teeth, posting snaps of cats and muffins on IG... So why not make time for something as intrinsically important to us as writing?

Easier said than done? *Sagely nods head* Agreed. No new habit ever comes easy and it takes reminders, consistency, and daily practice. And I'm speaking to myself here. This is a reminder to ME, personally. A statement of intent and a reminder to myself. Begin. It isn't about *how* you begin but *that* you begin. 

So, *where* is this new (writing) habit going to fit in? Is it going to be time-dictated? AT 0600, before you do ANYthing else? Or is it perhaps going to be task-dictated. AFTER you've had breakfast or BEFORE you walk the dog (s). Then, how long will you assign to it? Ten minutes? Fifteen? An hour? Or until you've written x amount of words or until your best mate, Sam, arrives for the daily arm wrestle? (It's not Sam, it's The Muse, and there is definitely NO arm-wrestling!) How often? Daily? Only on the days of the week beginning with T? Every second day? Where will the writing take place? Does this require any special preparation? Is there a GOAL to the writing? An eventual outcome you're specifically aiming for, like the End Page on a novel or an article a week, or is it more of a day-by-day achievement, like blogging, journaling, or posting on SM? (For me, it's primarily about that elusive End Page but also about those annoyingly necessary SM's as well).

Work out all of these details FIRST. Preparation is one of the cornerstones of success and there's no point going at it half-arsed, bull-at-a-gate, and failing on the first attempt, like I've done SO, so many times before. Start small and set small manageable targets. If you're not writing daily NOW, there's definitely no point setting yourself up with an initial target of an hour's writing, before your first coffee, and with a word goal of at least 1k. It simply ain't gonna happen. Or it might, but not for long.

Make the plan and then mull it over. Discuss it with your Muse (if you're fortunate enough to have one like I do), or a good friend or the dog. It helps to hear your voice out loud, outside of your head, in order to gain perspective. Be prepared to adjust and to BE FLEXIBLE. If the plan you made isn't working, figure out why and change what needs changing so it *does* work. And don't give up!  Miss a day? That's no excuse to quit and neither does it mean you need to do twice as much the following day. Simply pick up and carry on. You skipped a day. So what? Any day you follow the plan is, well, a day you follow the plan. Count the wins and forget the rest.

In summary? Write. Daily. Write something. ANYthing. Just write. Eventually, the whole thing will come together. 

Or, at very worst, you might well have a whole bunch of gibberish, though fixing that is something else entirely, and still beats the hell out of daytime soaps!