Tools to Help You Build a Writing Habit
It’s New Year Resolution time again—when we all look back over our past year, what we accomplished, what we didn’t, and what we want to do better our next time around the sun. From talking to the writers in my circle, it seems like establishing a more consistent, regular writing routine is a popular resolution this year.
This is one area where I have some first-hand expertise to share. I’ve always been pretty good at establishing and maintaining routines when I put my mind to it, but I fell out of my daily writing routine a few years ago when both work and life in general got hectic. One of my goals for 2024 was getting back into a regular writing habit, and I’m pleased with the new routine I’ve developed over the past year.
Part of what has helped me to do that is finding the right tools to keep me accountable and give me a bit of extra motivation on the days I’m not quite feeling it. So I figured I’d share some of the tools I either use currently or have used successfully in the past to keep myself writing regularly.
1. 750Words.com
This website has been around for a while, though it’s now in a new-and-improved form compared to the one I used to use when I was first establishing a writing habit. The idea for 750words.com was inspired by the morning pages discussed in the book The Artist’s Way. It’s intended as a place to write uncensored thoughts, similar to journaling, but if you’re not into this kind of self-reflection and want to use it to write fiction or poetry instead, you totally can—it’s completely private so no one will ever know.
Along with tracking how many words per day you write in the interface, you build streaks and get points for doing it when you write multiple days in a row. As an achievement-driven human, that kind of gameified motivation is very effective for me. You can also see where your points stack up against other users, if you’re a person who’s motivated by competition.
There are some extra neat features on 750Words.com, too. It tells you how fast you typed, how many distractions you had, and analyzes your writing to give you insights into your mindset and emotions—which is a feature that’s useful in a different way, when you use it for things like poetry or fiction, giving you an early glimpse into the theme, tone, and mood of your writing.
2. 4TheWords.com
While 750Words is mildly gameified, you can take that concept to the extreme with 4TheWords. This site is a literal writing-based RPG, complete with a world map, quests to complete, monsters to slay, and loot to acquire. There’s also a social element to the site, with cooperative battles and a forum where you can interact with other users (although, like the good introvert I am, I haven’t yet experimented with these aspects of the site).
I’ve been using 4TheWords for a few months now and have found it both super fun and highly effective and keeping me on track with my daily writing goals, especially on the days I don’t feel like it. What I find especially useful about 4TheWords is that it’s very flexible and adaptable to however much writing you want to accomplish. To maintain your on-site streak, you only have to write 444 words per day. You can set additional goals on top of this, whether that’s to write a certain amount per day or hit a set total word count within a given timeframe.
You can use the core features of 4TheWords with a free account. The restrictions on the free account aren’t overly limiting, and you can absolutely use it as an accountability and motivation tool without needing to upgrade to a paid tier.
3. Write-in groups.
These groups are exactly what they sound like: places where a bunch of writers get together and produce words, working independently in the company of others. I’ve been to some that met in-person, though the ones I’m in currently are both via Zoom.
Write-in groups can be an especially valuable tool for people whose issue is carving out time to write. By joining this group, you schedule your writing time into your day, in the process giving yourself permission to make it a priority. You might be crazy busy the rest of the time but, at least for this 1-2 hour span, you’re putting all of that on the backburner while you focus on writing.
I’m currently in two of these groups. Both are very low-key, no-pressure spaces without attendance requirements. That’s ideal for me, though for people who find peer pressure helpful for accountability, you can also find groups that are more strict about showing up every week.
As far as where to find these groups, the first place I’d recommend checking is with local writing communities and organizations. That’s where I found both the ones I go to. One, the open studio time hosted by Write Pittsburgh, is open to writers from anywhere—you can just register on their site, then Zoom in from 7:30-9pm Eastern every Monday night.
The other group I attend regularly is through a professional organization called PennWriters. Again, that’s a PA-local thing, but every state and region has its own set of similar organizations that may host similar events.
You can also check on websites like Meetup, or on social media like Facebook groups or Reddit, to find write-in type groups that meet at a time you can consistently attend.
4. Calendars and reminder apps.
The beginning is the hardest part of building a habit. Once you’ve established the routine it becomes more second nature—but, when you’re first starting out, it’s much more likely that your writing time will slip your mind, especially when you’ve got a lot of other things to think about.
You combat this by doing the same thing I was talking about above: scheduling your writing time into your day. Anybody with a smartphone and Google account has a free, straightforward tool to do that right in their pocket.
Create a recurring task in your Google Calendar (or alternative calendar app of choice). Set it to notify you at the time you’ll likely be able to write—daily, if that’s your plan, or on those specific days of the week that you’re able to devote time to writing.
This tool won’t necessarily help if what you need is accountability to actually sit down and write. However, it can be useful for folks who just need a reminder to make time for writing in their day-to-day life.
See similar posts: