A Writing Habit Is Better Than Discipline

Every day, I get emails from people saying, “I want to be a writer, but I don’t have the discipline to finish anything.”

And I get that because that’s where I was. Strike that. That’s where I AM all the time. Even after finishing seven books, I still struggle daily with discipline.

That’s why I like habit so much more than discipline. A habit is something you do without thinking. You don’t have to be disciplined to have a habit. You just do it.

How do you kickstart a habit, though? Well, one way is to focus on it for a short period of time, like seven days; get a group together, like this community; and make building the habit a fun challenge! So that's what we're going to do!

Announcing Our 7 Day Creative Writing Challenge

I'm really excited to announce our 7 Day Creative Writing Challenge, which we're beginning next week!

This challenge will help you kickstart a daily habit of writing. If you want to write a book, start a blog, or even just spend more time writing creatively, this writing challenge is for you.

What makes this even more fun is that we’re going to do the challenge together as a community.

Are you in? Here’s how this will work:

WRITING CHALLENGE RULES

1. On Monday, September 10, the challenge will begin.
2. If you join, each day you’ll write 1,000 words or more.
3. You can write about whatever you want: a new story, a chapter in your book, or even just 1,000 words of free writing.
4. At the end of each day, you’ll let us know how many words you wrote that day.
5. We’ll send you daily emails to encourage you.
6. We’ll open a Facebook group where we can all talk about our writing process.
7. At the end of the 7 days, you’ll have written 7,000 words, enough for a few chapters in a book or a short story or two! More importantly, you'll have begun your daily writing habit!

Plus, we're giving away hundreds of dollars worth of prizes to writers who participate. Join the challenge and write 1,000 words a day for your chances to win!

How does it sound? Ready to get started?

SIGN UP FOR THE FREE WRITING CHALLENGE

If you’re ready to kickstart your creative writing, you can sign up for the 7 Day Creative Writing Challenge here. Let’s make 2018 the year you stop procrastinating and finally accomplish your writing goals!

I'm in!

PRACTICE

Your practice today comes in two parts:

First, sign up for the challenge!

Then, create an intention for how you'll write every day. Where will you write? When will you write? How long will you write? Be specific!

Share your intention in the comments section, and be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers!