Follow
Successful writers have a strict habit of daily writing. We’re fooling ourselves if our goal is to be a writer yet believe the habit of daily writing isn’t for us.
Most dogs love going for walks. Not ours. On this one particular day, the weather wasn’t great outside, and our pugalier would have nothing to do with it. She just lay in her bed, all day long. I knew she wasn’t sick. She just wouldn’t go out.
It was approaching twenty hours since she’d gone out to the bathroom. I tried encouraging her to get up and go for a walk so out came the treats. I called her in a high pitched excited voice. Finally, she got up and sauntered over to the front door. She stepped over the threshold, took a look around, and sat down. I couldn’t get her to go for a walk for nothing. So what did I do?
I picked her up and carried her
I carried her a couple of blocks, knowing that as soon as I put her down, she’d make a beeline back home. Maybe this was a little mean, but she’s a dog! She needs to go for a walk, every day.
Similarly, if we’re a writer, or wish to be a writer, we need to keep a habit of daily writing. No matter what. Rain or shine. Many days we just don’t feel inspired. Writing is the one thing we don’t want to do. We’d rather sit and veg and catch up on Netflix. Heck, we’d rather even do something physical that appears productive. Sure, those things are okay in their own right, but they don’t help us in our journey as a writer. So how do we write when we’re uninspired and simply don’t feel like it? It’s a great question and I’ll share my thoughts through the three following points:
- Start by setting really low standards
- The freedom to plagiarize
- Procrastination can be the ticket
Let’s get started on my first point — setting really low standards.
We’re not writing for the Queen
So let’s not approach writing from that perspective. When we’re struggling to feel inspired, it’s okay to write only for ourselves. No one needs to read our writing. It’s just for us. Having that perspective allows us to relax. But wait — what happens to our writing standard? It decreases, doesn’t it? Because we don’t need to impress anyone, what we write doesn’t really matter.
Going through the motions is enough for low-inspiration days
For those times it’ll do just fine. It’s not what we’re writing that matters but rather the fact that we’re actually writing. Why is this ok? Because if we continue to put in the work, regardless of our mood, there will eventually be those days of inspiration. On those days, our work will be spectacular. However, we can’t wait for those days. They may be few and far between.
If we hold off on writing until we have that bolt-of-lightning moment of inspiration, there’s a good chance we’ll not only miss it. Also, on that day, our skill level will struggle to turn inspiration into a good piece of work. Writers gotta write every day, even if it’s trash. Writing rubbish is fine if that’s all we can do today. Heck, this article is a piece of rubbish but at least I can check it off that I wrote today. Tomorrow I’ll be better. Let’s move on to my second point. When we’re lacking inspiration it’s a great time to plagiarize. Yes — you read me correctly.
Go ahead — grab a great piece of content and start copying
Word for word. Within your writing genre, find a good book or article and start typing it out. Old school? Then copy by hand. Why in the world would we do this? It has three purposes — to get us in the motion of writing, to get the creative juices flowing, and to learn. I first heard about copying by hand someone else’s writing when I was studying copywriting.
Some of today’s best writers began by plagiarizing
They improved their skills by hand copying and highly recommend using this technique. Of course, anything you copy must stay with you. By no means can we publish anything we copy. That is unless we have express written consent that we can use it. However, there are no rules against copying something just for yourself. When you’re done, delete it or throw it in the bin. The practice will still be a part of your psyche and stay with you.
Copying also helps when you’re struggling to get started. Once you’re inspired it’s easy to transition to writing your own unique work. Alright, let’s move on to my third point. If you’re at all like me, you may already be great at this. It’s procrastination and why it can be our ticket.
Why do it now if you can put it off till later, right?
In my humble opinion, procrastination gets a bad rap. There are those times when procrastination is exactly the right thing to do. For example, when we’re in a bad space and our creativity is at level zero, procrastination can be the thing that saves us. Then is a great time to put everything down and save it for later. It’s much better to get re-energized than to struggle over an uninspired writing project.
I like to change things up by going for a walk, a bike ride, or even taking a nap. Do almost anything to get your mind away from a state of blah. We can get back to work when we have a fresh perspective. Trust me, the words will flow much quicker and easier when our mind is enthused.
So what’s the point of all this?
If our writing isn’t going to be published or shared, why do we even bother? Are we wasting our time on sub-standard work or copying someone else’s writing? Not at all. This is cliche and you’ve heard it before — writing is like a muscle. We need to keep exercising it. By doing so our writing muscles will get stronger. In time, with enough practice and improvement, we’ll produce work that is very worthy of publishing and sharing with the world. It’s only a matter of putting in the hours. Finally, when it comes down to it, write for yourself.
Don’t worry about writing for an audience
Write like it’s therapy. If there’s something bothering you, write about it. No one needs to read it. I like to process the junk I’m going through by writing about it. Maybe that works for you too. Many of us work through our obstacles by writing about them. Getting them down on paper is a way to clear our thoughts or come up with a solution.
A lot of the time when I write I’m only writing for myself. I’m not worried about addressing some issue that someone else is struggling with. I’m writing for me. The great thing is that no matter what our struggles are, we aren’t alone. There will be someone else out there that is dealing with the same problem.
Writing for yourself is to your benefit
It also benefits the person who’s in the same shoes as you are. Besides, when I’m writing for myself, my writing is much more relaxed. I’m more honest about who I really am because I’m not trying to impress anyone. Try it — it could work wonders for you.
Feel free to make writing fun
It should be an enjoyable process, whether it be for business or personal reasons. If you don’t enjoy writing it’s worth asking why you’re trying to make a career out of it. If we really want a career involving writing, we better make it fun or we’re not going to last. When writing is fun, it’s easy to make daily writing a habit. Time to wrap this up. In this article we discussed how we can write daily even when we don’t feel inspired by covering the following three points:
- Start by setting really low standards
- The freedom to plagiarize
- Procrastination can be the ticket
How do I feel about carrying my dog on our walk?
It’s pretty embarrassing actually. So I’ve done a few things to make it more enjoyable for her and easier for me. Of course, there are the treats and the retractable leash which give her more freedom. We’ve also added another dog to our family so there’s a little bit of comradery between them. And finally, we’re really thankful when the sunny, summer weather arrives because walking is much more pleasant for her then.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. Please feel free to share it if you found help here. For the next article to read, I’d recommend one that I wrote about writer’s block. You can read it here. Cheers.
Leave a Reply