I am a queen of procrastination.
I do everything in my power to delay the work I was intended to do. I would clean my house, do the chores, check emails, scroll Twitter, and do every insignificant thing before I start writing.
Yet I write a minimum of 1000 words every day without any exceptions. And these words are not some incoherent words but a meaningful chunk of content that goes to my books or articles.
This is how I wrote several textbooks, numerous blog posts and articles in the last decade.
Here’s how I write 1000 words every day.
Block your time.
No matter how much I procrastinate, I always block a certain amount of time to read and write. I am a busy mom and I have limited time to sit and write. It can be a few minutes or an hour but I make sure nothing distracts during it.
Start in the middle.
It is easier to continue writing than staring at a blank page. Every day, I finish an article and start the next one. Then I finish the article the next day. This exercise makes sure that I don’t have to stare at a blank page and waste my time.
It also helps to write the same thing with a fresh perspective.
Claim your mornings
I was a night owl all my life. But motherhood changed me. Now, I wake up early every morning not to write but to complete all the chores and plan my day.
Thus, I can block my time to write, to cook fresh lunch and still read and scroll through social media.
If you love to dedicate your mornings to creativity, write. For me, I need a clean house and a ticked-off list before I write. So, it worked that way for me.
But in any case, an extra hour or two in the mornings can bring a sea of change to your writing habit. A planned day is always better than a haphazard one.
Do not edit while you write
Well, it is a habit I acquired long ago, and it was the most annoying thing that hampered my writing flow.
I struggled with writers’ block for almost two years. There would be weeks of motivation and muse when I would write for hours. But they were temporary and simply vanish just like their appearance.
I would try to write but would just stare at my laptop screen for hours and when I write, I would edit it, again and again, to make those sentences perfect.
This habit hampered my writings more than anything and I tried not to edit while I write.
But as James Clear said in his book Atomic Habits, “once your habits are established, they seem to stick around forever- especially the unwanted ones. Despite our best intentions, unhealthy habits like junk food, watching too much television, procrastinating, and smoking can feel impossible to break.”
So, I did what is called changing the system as I discovered in Mr Clear’s book. Instead of fighting the bad habit, I focused on the entire system.
I told my inner critic that she is needed at the end of my writing process and told her to stop bothering me while I write.
Of course, it was not easy. But changes come from acting every day and that’s what I did.
Every day I write.
I write and I didn’t bother if I write gibberish. I am my biggest critic and I know my editing would turn the gibberish into a readable piece.
Atomic Habits helped me a lot in changing my perspective. I worked on the strategies shared in the book. Instead of focusing on the bad habits, I stick to my good one and take them to that level where they would replace my bad habits.
If you have not read this book, please read it. You can bring a sea of changes in your life.
Create an outline beforehand
Just like starting from the middle, you can create outlines of what you will write. Outlines help to shape your ideas on the paper.
As a fellow writer, I am sure you have so many article ideas that you keep track in a journal. But what happens with the ideas that they can be quite elusive when they want.
For example, you have written ‘zucchini’ on your food blogging idea journal. Now after a month, you want to tick off zucchini from the list but you have completely forgotten the ideas you had when you entered it in your journal.
So, instead of writing the word, you can create an outline like this,
Zucchini: How to make zucchini salad. A post that would include
- History of zucchini salad
- How to create zucchini salad?
- What are the assortments needed to make it a wholesome meal?
Now, you have a rough idea of what you were thinking you added the zucchini in your idea list.
It will save you time and speed up your writing flow. Instead of brainstorming again, you would have a solid idea of what you need to write.
I hope these 5 tips will help you to write 1000 or more words every day and speed up your writing. Do you have another tip to share? Do leave it in the comments.
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