10 Habits That Can Improve Your Creative Writing

Seeing your name on a website or on the spine of a book can truly be thrilling. It’s a real sense of accomplishment. It might be literal blood, sweat and tears. Blood from all the paper cuts, sweat from your apartment writing space which lacks air conditioning, and tears from asking yourself over and over, “Why did I think this was a good idea?!” But in order to actually get the end result, ultimately of being a writer and, for many of us, to be a published author, we have to put in the work. This means developing habits that will positively contribute to getting the words out.

Here are ten habits you can work with to improve your creative writing:

1. Write daily. Truly, in order to improve your creative writing, you need to do it with regularity. The regularity that you practice it may alter with seasons and priorities, but know that the best way to learn, improve and excel at something is by spending some time every day on it. Now, when we talk about writing daily, it does not mean that you have to work on your sci-fi novel, publish a how to blog post article, write a chapter of your book on migratory habits of house finches.
   
   Writing daily as a habitual practice could be as simple as, every day, I will set the timer for ten minutes and, while I’m drinking my morning coffee or tea, I will write from a list of prompts. (Need some ideas? Click here.) Whether you write something for your current project or something simply for fun and silliness, it’s crucial to write regularly. This keeps the writing gears lubed up and freely moving to continue churning out creativity.
   
   Even if you manage less than a five minute chunk of free writing, as long as you’ve written something, that will work for you. Moving slowly is still moving. And as long as you don’t stop, it’ll be easier to keep going and pick up the pace when you can.
   
2. Practice kindness. Is this you?: “I missed a day of my daily practice, so I might as well give up since I’m not literally writing daily.” That’s been me before with a myriad of habits from healthy eating to marathon training to creative writing. For instance, when I started a new set of thirty day prompts, I ended up missing Day 3 and Day 4! By Day 5, I felt like I was letting myself down. The reality is that I was feeling ill, the weather in my town was extra hot, and I had just moved to a different apartment.
   
   While it would have been nice to robotically churn out words to meet my daily word count goals, it was kinder for me to do what I ended up doing. Oh, well. I’ll start again tomorrow. And it is crucial to start again tomorrow and not let too much time go by. I evaluated if the word count was too high or the prompts too difficult. Neither of those was the issue, but I simply needed to take a nap with the fan on and eat a salad later when I woke up. And, I had work deadlines I needed to meet, so I worked on those with the energy I had. And, it’s OK. I don’t need to evaluate or cast judgement on myself and send myself into a shame spiral for being human (I’ve done that before and the results aren’t encouraging).
   
   Practicing kindness could look like lowering a word count goal or breaking up an hour-long session into 15 minute chunks (or a 15 minute session into 5 minute breaks throughout the day). Kindness toward your writer self could also look like writing about something fun for the pure silliness of it instead of writing the boring stuff that leaves you banging your head against the wall. Or, it could even look like simply skipping the “todays” of life that send us off track and choose to start again tomorrow.
   
3. Follow the prompt. One way I enjoy writing is by using a prompt to get me started. A prompt is literally that: to instigate movement. Something that my students can struggle with is not feeling that they can stick with the same prompt throughout a writing session. I explain that it’s not about only writing about “my favorite sunny day” but, it’s really about writing how you feel while you’re writing, a memory of your childhood unicorn floaty or the sensation of sticky, sandy ice cream dripping on your beach towel. Normally, this wouldn’t be classed as a favorite day out. Instead, it sounds the opposite.
   
   But, in order to help your writing habits, you keep your pen moving and your keys clicking words out no matter how they come. Some days we will follow the prompt and get lost in the abyss of monkey butts, pineapple froyo and the hippie or hipster (hard to say sometimes) in the corner that’s all tattooed up and says he really loves the waves. Somedays what we write as we free write and follow the prompt, we allow the words to come out. We can use the joys of the editing process to sift out the golden goodness from a writing session when we’ve let the firehose of absurdity spray out from our pen. However, we have nothing to edit if we are too worried and particular about what we say and whether it’s precisely fitting in with the prompt exactly.
   
4. Breathe. Breathing is an involuntary reflex that healthy bodies do without thinking about it. It’s something that simply happens. Sometimes, though, when we are writing and we don’t like what we are writing because it’s off track, lacks perfection, or we’re struggling with actually saying what we want to say, we need to pause and take a breath.
   
   Something that my coach continues to remind me to do when I’m feeling overwhelmed by so many projects and tasks is to do this, to pause to breathe, so I know that it can work.
   
   Breathing in through your nose for four seconds and breathing out slowly from your nose, too, for six seconds can help calm you down and bring clarity to your thoughts. Sometimes you might need to slow down for a moment to see what is literally in front of you. Breathing out slowly literally slows our heart rates, which can help us physically calm down. Slowing our heart rate and helping make our bodies feel more at rest, will help us to be able to write more.
   
   Try this: The next time I feel anxious or annoyed at myself or about my writing, I will pause and take three deep breaths in and out through my nose. You may find it helpful to close your eyes, too. Then, start writing again.
   
5. Redefine what writing is. Much of writing, especially at the start of a project, involves literal writing. However, when you are in the midst of a project, sometimes writing involves different practices which contribute to the end result. A place that some people can get stuck is by having a strict definition of what writing is.
   
   Writing is about researching the occupational duties of your main character, about editing and refining your words to tighten a scene, about going with a free writing prompt wherever it takes you (even to a different city than where you’re writing about), about reading something someone else wrote in a similar genre or on the same topic.
   
   Writing to get the words out is an essential part of the process, but it is not the only part of the process. If you want to be a writer, then you will spend time writing and that will be your primary focus to be a writer. But, if you want to be a published author (ghostwriting blog articles, writing a mini e-book on your favorite topic, writing a series of YA fantasy rom com novels), there is a lot more that counts toward writing time. And each of these additional tasks need to be part of your writerly schedule and habits.
   
6. Read widely. “I only like reading westerns by Louis L’Amour, though.” If you would like to improve your creative writing habits, you might have to break out of your usual reading niche nest and spread your writing genre wings. Reading widely can help you gain understanding and insight on a wide range of topics that will stimulate various parts of your brain that aren’t normally engaged. Reading widely can educate you about a different way of presenting information or saying something in an articulate manner. And, reading widely can help you break out of a rut. We can get so used to how something is that we forget that there’s a different way. Reading from a variety of authors and genres can offer alternative routines to train the formation of different pathways, that scientifically speaking, literally grows your brain.
   
   Where can you find new genres? There are a ton of resources out there. I have a whole board on Pinterest called, “Books Worth Reading,” that you’re welcome to peruse. The pins there come from a variety of places and people. Some are actual lists of what some say are the best books that coming out in Summer 2021, while others are lists of ideas to find books to read (ex: read a book about an ex-convict, read a book with unicorns, read a book that takes place in Turkey, read a book that take place in the 1920s, etc.).
   
   You might also talk to your local librarian or a local bookseller and they will be more than happen to recommend popular titles or titles they have recently enjoyed.
   
7. Read as a writer. Usually writers want to write because we enjoy reading. We want to give others that experience of producing a page-turner that will inform and entertain and pass time in a pleasant manner on a day off or when we need one, but can only escape for a few minutes at a time.
   
   One habit to take on to improve your writing is not only to read widely and regularly, but also to read with a writer’s lens. Ask yourself questions about what you read to understand how it helps you write better.
   
   Try questions like:
   *How did the writer create tension in this scene?
   *Why did the writer choose this word instead of a different one? How might the meaning or mood of this paragraph or page or chapter or book change were they to have used a different word?
   *Which technique did the writer use to structure the plot or the develop the character in this instance?
   *What would my dialogue interactions be like if I tried working with conversation like this writer has done, but for my own characters?
   
8. Take a creative writing class. I am a lifelong learner and I am a teacher, so I will always promote taking classes in whatever you choose to want to improve in. By investing time and money into a class, you’re proving to yourself and others around you that your creative writing craft is important and valuable to you.
   
   Enrolling in a class can be really helpful for scheduling out regular time to devote to your creative writing habits. There is an accountability that comes with putting your money down, you have “skin in the game” we call it in the coaching and education industry. And, I know it’s true from my personal experience. I’ve made that monetary commitment, so I will make that time commitment, too. Plus, there are cool people who are also taking or teaching the class that you want to connect with about writing. It can all be very exciting.
   
   We can use our excitement about someone else’s work to inspire our own, also. When we are in community, we have the opportunity to experience life in a different manner and in a varied context. Habitual learning in community in a safe space like a classroom, whether virtual or in-person, can really improve your creativity. I make it a habit to take classes to improve my creative pursuits and in seasons when I am working on something else, I’m more able to keep the concepts front of mind and remain in a creative mindset because of the learning, rather than getting stagnant because I don’t have time for it all.
   
9. Go for a walk. It’s a simple one, but the act of getting up from your chair and getting blood flowing in your legs and feet when you’ve been cramped up trying to knock out all of those words, can bring a new lease of life into your writing time.
   
   Physically walking helps promote healthy circulation (including to your extremities: you need your little fingers to be able to type, but also to your brain, which you need to imagine all these amazing ideas to write down), but there are other benefits of walking when it comes to writing habits.
   
   Going for a walk means you can engage all five senses without technology impeding them. Your eyes get a break from looking closely at a notebook or at your computer screen and they can take in all the colors. Walking so you feel the sensations of hitting your foot on the ground. Smell the seasonal air, a neighborhood bakery, that businessman’s cologne. Taste your gum or your need for it (maybe this triggers a story scene for an apocalyptic tale where clean water doesn’t exist anymore). Listen to birds chirping, the elderly neighbor shouting hello to the mail carrier, the motorcycles gearing up for the weekend ride.
   
10. Submit your writing. While submission can be a goal, it can be scary, and it can become a habit that doesn’t get held back by emotions and what ifs. There are countless online resources available for submission. Maybe you could post a blog daily, submit a short story to a contest once a week, send a query letter to an agent a couple times a month.
    
    Practicing submitting not only trains your brain to work to deadlines, but also to be able to handle rejection. The fear of rejection can be a massive hurdle, but it doesn’t have to be. One of the ways to overcome rejection is to realize that it’s the writing piece, that has a life of its own, that is being rejected. This can happen for a whole host of reasons: the contest received so many submissions that only one of one thousand submissions could be chosen; the agent is currently at capacity and isn’t able to take on another author at this time (even though they loved your work); or the online e-zine has already received enough pieces in the genre you submitted, so they are actually looking for work in a different genre.
    
    The practice of submission encourages a habit of completion, a habit of sharing, and a habit of writing something new. When you practice submitting writing you become resilient, audacious and prolific. You give yourself the change to actually become an effective writer because you put in the practice of showing up to the page.

There are many other habits which can help us improve our writing, but I hope that these few above can help you grow into a brave and effective communicator through the written word. Which one of the above ten ideas will you try implementing this week? Let me know how it goes–comment below!

Happy Writing!

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