Make Writing a Good Habit

How Do Great Writers Write?

S.J. Scott did a little research to find out if good writing and fast writing could coexist. Apparently they can, based on these examples from the book:

• Stephen King: 2,000 words per day
• Jack London: 1,000-1,500 words per day
• Erle Stanley Gardner: 1 million words per year.

S.J. Scott is building a business around his passion for helping people develop habits that will make them more successful in any area of life. Writing Habit Mastery addresses the needs of writers for healthy, sensible, productive habits that will result in words on pages. His basic philosophy is that the small things you do every single day are the things that can really change your life.

But I'm Creative!!

Does "habit" sound too mundane and earthbound for a creative type like yourself? Do you chafe at the idea of habits that could cramp your rampant creativity? Well, if you are thinking you are creative and yet have not actually finished anything then you already have writing habits--bad ones! Good habits will unleash your creative writing, not stifle it.

Small Changes, Big Results

Now, to write 2,000 words daily, consistently, will require some effort. Scott leads us step by step down the path to productive daily writing. One of the most obvious and most neglected strategies is to simply analyze your current writing habits: how, where, when, and how much are you writing. What time of day is better? Do you write more at home or in a coffee shop? From there, he takes us through important steps like changing beliefs that limit us and establishing a daily routine.

Scott suggests lots of small changes that can really help writers avoid unproductive down time and "writer's block." For example, learning to touch type will help those whose fingers are not keeping up with their brains. Many strategies involve limiting interruptions and dealing with them when they happen as well as cultivating the enthusiasm that will carry you over the occasional roadblock.

I'm a big fan of S.J. Scott's e-books and recommend them to writers of all types, from blogger to novelist to commercial writer. I keep them on my Kindle and refer to them whenever I need a boost.