Keeping your writing going
When writing over an extended period of time, you will need to develop strategies to stay on track. Here are some strategies for developing a writing habit.
5 Hacks to Create a Writing Habit
1. Write for just 15-20 minutes
If you can develop a habit of writing everyday for small periods of time, you will be surprised how effective that time starts to become!
Learn about the Pomodoro technique
2. Stop checking email
The creative work of producing words onto the page takes a lot of brain power. Set aside time to write and do not let that time get overtaken by other tasks. Writing time is writing time. Choose the time of the day that you focus best and the time of the day where you can get things done, but you feel your focus is harder to maintain. Use your focus time for writing, and your unfocused times for tasks such as email.
3. Lower your expectations
“the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts”
- Anne Lamott in Book by Bird
Do not expect your writing to look good or sound good on your first draft. It can be very hard to create when we have a critic editing over our shoulder (figuratively or literally). When you write, let yourself write badly first, then go back at another time to edit and polish.
Some suggestions for doing this are: Create a document called, ‘Crap draft’, ‘Very Rough Draft’ or whatever else you need to do to help turn your perfectionist critic off. Do timed free writes where you keep typing/writing and are not allowed to stop! This can allow yourself more freedom to get ideas onto the page because you know that it won’t be perfect. It can also be a good exercise to help yourself get started if you are stuck. (you can even start with complaining about not knowing what to write, but just keep writing for the full 5 minutes, something may start seeping onto the page!).
4. Make it social
Sometimes having other people working on focused writing can help you focus on your own writing. Motivation and focus can be contagious! There are different groups around the university that host writing days for postgraduate students, or you can create your own group!
- Victoria University of Wellington PGSA Writing to Finish events
- Faculty of Graduate Research Thesis Bootcamps
- Focusmate for virtual co-working
- Or start your own Shut up and Write group
5. Celebrate progress
Set up small rewards for small sections completed or time spent writing. Here are some ideas students have used:
- A coffee or a treat at a café.
- Visiting a museum exhibit after a set time of writing
- Pay yourself $1 for every hour you spend writing towards something that would normally be decadent! ($1 works well because then you have a sustained goal, but doesn't make the goal too far away. Think $10-30 range)