Write Every Day — You’ll Get Astonishing Benefits!
By: Michael Burg
Tags: This Happened To Me, Writing Life, Self Improvement, Nonfiction, Writing Tips

Writer “Flow”

You can get there by subscribing to the message contained in three words. Write, just write. And, the more you write, the more you’ll want to write.

Decide on a daily or almost-daily routine that works for you and write, just write.

Some advocate interspersing reading or reading first, then writing, but it’s your routine that’s key.

My routine is a morning one. The second cup of coffee finds me at the keyboard writing something. That’s now become a “have to” for me. If something gets in the way and I don’t write, I’m unfulfilled. And, trust me when I say that I’m distinctly not trying for writing greatness here. I just write. Whatever thoughts are dancing around in my cranium find their way unedited onto the page.

BTW — editing happens later and is a different process.

“Writer’s Mindset” or “Framing”

Since I start my day by writing, that seems to frame the rest of the day for me. Because I awaken to writing and idea generation as nearly my first activities, both more writing and more ideas seem to naturally occur throughout the course of the day. To me it feels like the mental equivalent of starting my day with yoga. The physicality of yoga would “frame” or direct the remainder of my day. I’d somehow feel stronger or more fit because my day began with an activity designed to improve my strength and fitness. The same is true for writing.

“Micro-Writing”

I’ve also found that I can now “micro-write,” something I was never able to do before. Remember I’m the guy who needed something monumental to motivate me to write. And I HAD to have something monumental to say. I had to think, think, think and work it all out in my head. Only then could I birth a story, like Athena bursting forth fully formed from Zeus’ forehead, or I wasn’t happy.

Now I can flash on something, jot it down, add it to a piece in progress and move on. This now happens multiple times per day. A few lines get jotted down and then a few more later, then still more. I’m often adding material to several works-in-progress in a day.

Bottom line — the flow of ideas as well as the flow of your writing will increase markedly simply by making writing a habit, a daily habit.

Discovery

As described, I thought that in order to write, I had to have something big to say. Right then, at the moment of the writing. So long blank stretches of no writing would occur as I waited for inspiration and grand thoughts before writing.

Now the process is largely flipped. I write, just write, and discover that, some days, I do in fact have something to say. That journey of discovery starts by setting off down the writing road. The discoveries and the inspirations occur through the process of writing.

Idea Generation

My idea generation has improved too. I used to struggle to generate a single idea in months. It got to the point where I thought senility was creeping in and my writing days were behind me. Other writers seemed to have no trouble with idea generation, so what was wrong with me?

Then my “flip” occurred. Again, the practice or the habit of writing led to almost non-stop idea generation.

I hate to use cliches and I know we’re really not supposed to, but practice really does make perfect when it comes to idea creation. Or, at least, practice produces productivity and this translates to idea generation.