Every day we all do many things that are hard, but without a doubt one of the hardest is to make time for a writing session.
Your life is hectic, complicated, challenging, and there’s never time to write.
But what is funny is that even if you have somehow arranged or finagled a way to take time off from work to write, you will still do about anything else before or instead of writing. Am I right?
What is stopping you? Fear of failure, belief that you don’t know enough or aren’t ready?
How about this? You’re smart—you know how hard writing is. Who the heck wants to wade into the snake-filled, deep grass of writing if you can possibly avoid it? Writing goes on and on. You can slap a few words on the screen, but then comes the rewriting and reworking and trying to find some meaning in this ridiculous mess of words.
So we all avoid it until we’re scared of truly and forever missing a deadline and proving to ourselves that we’re as sniveling as we have always suspected. And then, maybe, we’ll brave the snake-infested waters. We pull on the boots and wade in.
Does it have to come to this every time? God help us all. We are better than this. I’m tired, even now, as I think of the hordes of procrastinating, perfectionist, sensitive, worried would-be writers, myself included, who are sitting in front of the TV or reading every blog known to man or woman instead of writing.
Enough.
How can getting started writing and sticking with it be made easier?
You hear that the way to get writing done is to “just do it.” People who routinely make room in their busy days for more commitments may seem to “just do it.”
But ask someone who has added to their busy day a taxing commitment, such as running or swimming or teaching a class or producing text, if they “just do it.”
Or do they have strategies, rituals, and preliminaries that help them get started and get the job done? When do they write?
My dissertation coaching clients will tell you that what they hear from me is that it is easier to start writing if you have a daily routine and write first thing each morning. The good news is that the more you sit down and write at that time each day, the closer you will be to having a robust writing habit.
Why wait all day and into the evening, with the hope that somehow you will trap yourself into writing?
Write first.
I would love to hear from my readers. What ideas do you have about how to start writing more easily? Does writing first each day work for you?
All good wishes,
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC Your International Dissertation and Academic Career Coach nancy @ nancywhichard.com www.nancywhichard.com
I get that this works for you. But unless you have convincing data that writers never write daily unless it’s in the morning – please stop berating the rest of us who don’t write in the morning. Many of us don’t and do just fine as writers. What is it with those who write on writing pronouncing 1) must write every day and 2) do it in the morning as if that was the a sacred commandment or something? Show us the data if you are going to do that. But all you have offered is anecdotes. I can offer anecdotes about non-morning writing too. Please ground advice in data.
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I agree that not every writer needs to write first thing each morning to be productive. But those of us who put off writing to the extent that I describe in my blog post are more likely to write if we precommit to a time early in the day before our willpower has been worn down. If we actively avoid writing, we’re using up a large amount of willpower and energy. Based on his research, Roy Baumeister writes in Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength that willpower can become fatigued, like a muscle, and so we can’t always depend on willpower being there to help us when we want it to be.
Thanks for you comment.
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