{"id":3757,"date":"2023-08-16T08:25:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T12:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/tips-for-building-a-writing-routine\/"},"modified":"2023-08-16T08:25:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T12:25:27","slug":"tips-for-building-a-writing-routine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/tips-for-building-a-writing-routine\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Building a Writing Routine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"135824\" class=\"elementor elementor-135824\">\n<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-f8b1d93 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"f8b1d93\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ebbff94\" data-id=\"ebbff94\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cbebad6 elementor-drop-cap-yes elementor-drop-cap-view-default elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cbebad6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;drop_cap&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<p>One habit that many people want to start? The habit of regular writing.<\/p>\n<p>When I was working on <em><a href=\"\/books\/better-than-before\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Better Than Before<\/a><\/em>, my book about how to make and break habits, I was surprised by how many people want to cultivate the habit of writing regularly. They have different reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>for creative expression\u2014working on a novel, writing family newsletters, keeping &#8220;morning pages&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>for preserving memories\u2014keeping a journal for a new baby, making &#8220;<a href=\"\/articles\/five-senses-portrait-barnaby\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">five-senses portraits<\/a>&#8221; for relatives who have died<\/li>\n<li>for gaining clarity\u2014writing daily priority lists, keeping track of a major project using a <a href=\"https:\/\/the-happiness-project.com\/products\/one-sentence-journal?utm_campaign=article-writing-routine&amp;utm_source=gr&amp;utm_medium=web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one-sentence journal<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But even when we see the value of writing regularly, it can be a difficult habit to acquire. (Because many habits are difficult to acquire!)<\/p>\n<p>Here are some steps to consider:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Select time and frequency. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Decide what time of day you will write, and how often. For some people, such as me, writing every day works best. Others may choose to write on Saturday mornings or during weekday lunch breaks. As you think about when to schedule your writing, pay close attention to your energy level. If you&#8217;re a morning person, schedule your writing time early; if you&#8217;re a night person, use a later time. For many people, putting an activity on the calendar means that it happens. (<a href=\"\/ramit-sethi-upholder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Upholders<\/a>, that&#8217;s especially true for you.)<br \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>But if the idea of scheduling your writing sounds extremely unappealing, don&#8217;t do it!<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/carla-hall-rebel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rebels<\/a>, I&#8217;m looking at you.) Think about your identity as a &#8220;writer,&#8221; and remember, the one thing that writers do is&#8230;write. See #12.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Consider your space. <\/b>Figure out<span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> where you do your best work, and make that space as convenient and comfortable as possible. Corner of the sofa? Kitchen table? Public library? Bed? Do what you can to put yourself in an environment that suits you.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Adjust your sound environment.<\/strong> To do deep work, some people (such as me) prefer silence. Other prefer music with words, music with no words, one song on a loop (!), white noise, or the busy clatter of a coffee shop. Create the sound surroundings that suit you.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Upgrade your tools.<\/strong> Beautiful tools make work a joy, and bad tools make work unnecessarily irksome. If you&#8217;re putting up with poor tools\u2014inadequate light, an ancient laptop\u2014make the effort to upgrade. <br \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Start a focus ritual<\/strong>. Maybe you light a candle, or walk around the block, or make your favorite coffee drink, or sit next to the same window when it\u2019s time to begin. By repeating that action, you\u2019re signaling to your brain that it\u2019s time to enter a creative, associative state.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Articulate your <em>why<\/em>.<\/b> Why do you want to establish a writing routine? To make progress on your book manuscript? Carve out space for self-reflection? When you understand why you&#8217;re pursuing a habit, it&#8217;s easier to keep it up. (<a href=\"\/jordan-harbinger-questioner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Questioners<\/a>, this is a crucial step for you.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you need accountability, get it.<\/strong> Join a writers&#8217; group or class where you&#8217;re expected to hand in work; work with a writing coach; post a schedule where your family members will see it; recruit a friend to read your drafts. (<a href=\"\/ron-lieber-obliger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Obligers<\/a>, you know you need it! Do not skip this step!) One writer told her son, &#8220;You have your homework, and I have my homework\u2014which is working on my novel. When you&#8217;re working on your homework, I&#8217;ll work on my homework. If I&#8217;m not doing my homework, you don&#8217;t have to do yours.&#8221; Her son watched her every day, hoping to get a day off.<\/li>\n<li><b>Choose a metric. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do you know when you\u2019ve completed your writing time? Is your metric a word count, minutes spent in the chair, or a completed draft? Perhaps your metric is to keep writing for the duration of your toddler\u2019s nap time. Pick a marker that&#8217;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">s concrete, measurable, and realistic. <strong><em>Note<\/em><\/strong>: While many writers use word count, this approach has a risk: it encourages some people to write in a padded, verbose way. As a former lawyer, I <em>never<\/em> give myself an incentive to write long.<br \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Don\u2019t forget to read.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The best writing routine includes reading. As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/41208555\">Randall Jarrell wrote<\/a>,<em> &#8220;Read at whim! read at whim!&#8221;<\/em><br \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Set up safeguards against <a href=\"\/articles\/of-the-10-categories-of-loopholes-which-do-you-use\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">loopholes<\/a>.<\/b> Put guardrails in place for the days you\u2019re tempted to abandon your writing practice, and anticipate challenges. What will you do when you go on vacation? If you&#8217;re traveling? If you have house guests? If you don&#8217;t have any ideas? Make a plan.<\/li>\n<li><strong>MOST IMPORTANT: Never forget that <em>to write, we must write<\/em>.<\/strong> These things are <em>not<\/em> writing: research, interviews, formatting, outlining, daydreaming, talking about writing. These things may be <em>absolutely necessary<\/em> for writing, but they aren&#8217;t writing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>As with all habits, remember, we gain the benefit of that habit day by day. With writing, it&#8217;s easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, but day by day, we make progress.<\/p>\n<p>As novelist <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3DWphEC\">E. L. Doctorow observed about writing<\/a>: \u201cIt&#8217;s like driving at night: you never see further than your headlights, but you can can make the whole trip that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/gretchenrubin.com\/articles\/tips-for-building-a-writing-routine\/\">Tips for Building a Writing Routine<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/gretchenrubin.com\">Gretchen Rubin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One habit that many people want to start? The habit of regular writing. When I was working on Better Than Before, my book about how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-habits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}