The Turtle
slow & steady: you write best a little bit every day.
Your writing routine personality is…
The Prescription:
Set yourself a ridiculously small “turtle step” for your writing, and do it every day. Choose either a small amount of time (like 15 minutes) or a small word count (like 100 words), and do that most days of the week, or every weekday.
Add in accountability:
Sometimes a habit we do every day is easier to keep up with than a habit we only do some days.
Try one (or all) of these accountability options:
Set your writing time to happen directly after an already-established daily habit. For example, first thing when you sit down to your desk in the morning; after journaling, or after exercise.
Track the days you write using my Writing Habit tracker. Or use an existing mechanism in your life to track your writing (I use my Silk + Sonder planner).
Make a plan for what you’ll do when you miss a day. Make up the time or word count the next day? Or just restart where you left off?
Stop doing this:
Stop pushing yourself to write longer than your set time or set word count. If you’ve written for 15 minutes, or your 100 words, don’t try to write longer or more. Leave plenty in the tank for tomorrow.
Stop beating yourself up for not being able to write thousands of words in one sitting. That’s not how your process works.
Real life example:
I am a Turtle! Before I had kids, I used to write for an hour every weekday morning. I would have breakfast, go for a long walk, then make coffee and sit down to write. Once I had my children, I used to think that if I couldn’t write for a whole hour, it wasn’t worth writing at all.
Now, the practice that actually fits into my life looks like this:
I get the kids off to school, exercise, shower and go to my writing studio in my attic. I journal, light a candle, draw an oracle card, and then I write 200 words. I track this in my planner so I can see if there are patterns to missing days of my writing practice.
I’ve written more than 150 pages of my new novel this way. As my client Kelli Thompson says, consistency isn’t sexy, but it works!
Pleasure Boosters
Create a writing ritual that you can repeat on the daily. It should be short (5-10 minutes) but special: light a candle, brew some tea, draw an oracle card, repeat a prayer or mantra, read 1-2 pages from a book about writing.
Set up a writing space that feels special and sacred. Ideally, it should be a different space from where you typically work (or do tasks like pay bills). Set up some big comfy cushions in a corner of your bedroom, repurpose a cozy armchair, or get a low table and a pouf. Add candles, crystals, plants - anything that will make the space feel special.
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