A few weeks ago I wrote a post about some tools to help writers build a habit. All of those are super helpful when it comes to accountability, tracking progress, or even just getting reminders that it’s time to write.

None of those tools can make you sit down and use them, though. It still takes some internal motivation to start a writing habit, and for many people that’s the hardest part. I will say, there’s no magic formula for this. To some extent, it’s true that you just need to force yourself to do it and there aren’t really any shortcuts. That said, how you think about and approach the process of starting a writing habit can make a difference in getting it to stick. Here are the steps I took to build my current writing habit, which has been ongoing for a while now—even through an international trip, the last holiday season, planning the Scribble House Lit Fest, and other time-consuming stuff that is often deadly to writing routines.

Step 1: Identify your roadblocks.

Identifying the specific things that stop you from writing currently is the first step to finding a path around them. For me, work is always a big roadblock—not just the time commitment, but also feeling drained of creative energy. Negative self-talk was an impediment for me in the past, too: often, my guilt over not writing would stop me from doing it when I did have time. 

Before you start planning your writing habit, take a step back and think about what's stopped you from developing one in the past. Write down all of the things that keep you from writing consistently right now, whether that’s time, energy, distractions, or mental blocks.

Be honest with yourself when writing this list. It's much easier to solve a problem when you acknowledge it exists and think critically about its roots.

Step 2: Clarify your motivations.

What is your big-picture “why”? What do you hope to achieve by writing on a more regular basis? Even when you love writing, there will always be times you just don't feel like doing it. Having a “why” can serve as motivation when you develop a case of the don't-want-tos—in short, for those exact situations where having a habit is beneficial.

This motivation could be a specific project goal—for example, that you want to finish a novel or memoir. It could be something a bit broader, like if you want to publish stories or poems in literary journals, or start a writing career. Emotional motivations are perfectly valid, too, like if you want to commit to morning pages as a form of therapy or self-discovery, for instance.

Just like with the roadblocks, be honest with yourself about why you want to have a writing habit. This is just for you; no one else is going to know (unless you tell them) and the more deeply the motivation resonates with you, the more useful it will be to keep you going with your writing habit.

This goal also doesn’t need to stay the same forever. When I first developed my habit, my goal was to start a freelance career. Once I was established as a freelancer, that goal evolved to first writing more short stories to publish, then finishing a novel-in-progress. Currently, I have a new novel and a short story project bouncing around my brain that I want to get on the page. Letting your goal evolve with your needs keeps it relevant to your needs as a writer right now.

Step 3: Identify potential writing times.

Now that we've laid some mental ground work, it's time to turn to the practical side of making a writing habit stick. Think of a typical week in your life. Plot out your weekly schedule. Along with work, also write in family time, social outings, hobbies, or even favorite TV shows that you’ll realistically be tempted to choose over writing. The idea is to find times you’re least likely to have other things competing for your attention.

Granted, not everyone’s schedule is the same week-to-week. If that’s the case for you, it can be helpful to think about writing times relative to other commitments rather than scheduled into specific time slots. For instance, I used to get a bit of writing done on my lunch breaks when I worked at the hotel. Those didn’t always happen at exactly the same time but they occupied the same basic portion of my schedule.

Once you have an idea of your average week, highlight the times you can write distraction-free—ideally at least an hour per session, but if all you have are 15-minute chunks, that works, too. This kind of time may not exist for you every day—and that's okay. Establishing a habit doesn't need to be all-or-nothing. Even if you can only identify one consistent slot during your week, that's still forward progress compared to not having time to write at all.

Also keep in mind that you don't need to set the same goal every day. Maybe you'll steal 15 minutes every Monday-Friday afternoon, with a longer session over the weekends—there are no rules other than the ones you set, so give yourself the freedom and flexibility to make your habit fit into your life.

Step 4: Set a realistic goal.

The best writing habit is one you can actually keep. Setting small goals makes you more likely to stick to them. If you breeze through it and still have energy, there’s no rule saying you have to stop! It’s just the minimum you’ll commit to, even when life is hectic. 

While I often set wordcount goals now, I found time-based goals more predictable and lower-pressure when I was building my habit—even if I only got 100 words down, I at least could feel good that I put in the effort when I said I would. On the other hand, if your schedule makes finding uninterrupted time difficult, a words-per-day goal can also be effective.

Step 5: Keep your writing goal for 30 days.

It’s intimidating to set a goal you plan to keep forever—but doing something for a month feels manageable, at least for me. Decide when you’ll write and for how long, then establish a system to track your progress and commit to keeping your goal for a month.

Attaching rewards to progress can provide another layer of motivation. I like to set a two-level reward: a smaller reward for partial success, like keeping at least half of your scheduled writing sessions, then a bigger one for a perfect streak. This way, if you do miss a day, it’s less likely to derail your progress—you still have something that you’re working toward, and for me that makes it a bit easier to jump back in despite my slip-up.

Step 6: Reflect, reset, and do it again.

At the end of the 30 days, check in with your progress. Did you meet your goal—or exceed it, even? Then congratulate yourself for the accomplishment then set that goal again, and maybe push yourself a bit more. Try for 90 days this time, for example, which is often a long enough time span to make a habit start to feel like second-nature.

If you fell short of your goal, don’t beat yourself up. Celebrate the progress you did make, then consider why you didn’t write on the days you skipped. What roadblocks did you miss in your initial planning? Rework your goal with those in mind and go for another 30-day streak.

The truth is, anyone can develop a writing habit—but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Having a plan and clear steps to follow can often help make the process feel less overwhelming and much more doable, even when your life doesn’t always want to cooperate.

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