How to Get into a Daily Writing Routine

 YOU SEE  it all the time. If you want to be a writer, then you must sit down and write.

​It seems to be the number one piece of advice that all experts provide. Write every day, whether you feel like it, or not. But if you’re not an expert and writing isn’t your main source of income, this advice can seem quite daunting.

​Every day? I once thought this to be an impossible ask. What about my day job? My family and friends? What about when I’m feeling tired or unmotivated? I can’t do it.

Well, I'm here to tell you that it certainly can be done. Present day, I try to write at least six out of seven days a week and today, I’m going to share with you my top ten tips for getting into a daily writing routine.

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1) Set small goals. If you try to accomplish too much too soon then every time you fall short, it will put you off. Even if you only write for five minutes a day, consistently, you’re doing it!

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2) Do something every day for thirty days and a habit will start to form. It will slowly become a part of your daily routine. For example, write for five minutes at the same time every day. This could be first thing in the morning before you get out of bed, last thing at night or alongside your mid-morning coffee.

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3) Don’t focus so much on quality or content at this stage, but on quantity and consistency. The important thing when first starting out is that you simply hit those goals. Stressing over each and every syllable so early on is the wrong way to encourage writing activity, but the right way to put you off writing completely -- maybe even for good! 

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4) Create a reward system to encourage daily writing activity. This is a great way to inspire a daily writing routine, especially when you don’t feel like writing. For example, your reward for Monday could be a glass of wine at the end of the day. Your reward for Tuesday could be a nice slab of chocolate. Rewarding yourself when you succeed is a fun way to motivate yourself into following through with your daily writing.
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​5) Do the work, then set it aside. Once you’re done, you’re done. And it’ll feel good knowing that you’re achieving those goals, day after day. There may come a time when you don’t need to dangle rewards over the goal post, or be so strict about how often you write to get the work done. But until then, treat each session as you would an appointment.





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​6) Don’t get bogged down with having to write. If there’s no enjoyment in what you’re doing, your task can soon become a chore. At these early stages, it’s not important how you choose to complete your task, just that you do. Before you’ve even formed the habit of writing daily, it can quickly turn into hard work with the wrong frame of mind.

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​7) Make sure you are writing for you. It can be something serious, or purely for your own enjoyment. Fiction, memoir, non-fiction, a poem, a story idea. But if you’re not enjoying it even a tiny bit, then you must ask yourself – why do you want to form a writing habit? Do you like writing, or just the idea of being a writer?




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​8) Go with your whims and passing fancies. Want to write a poem? Write a poem. Into short stories or flash fiction? Try your hand at making your own. Have a blog? Want one? Take your thoughts to the world wide web. You don’t have to be good at something to create it.

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​9) Hold yourself accountable. For example, you could pledge to post something on your blog every day for a month. People will come to expect your daily post and if you don’t post on a particular day, it’s not just you that will know this. Some of us flourish under pressure, or benefit from that extra nudge that keeps us on track. 





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​10) Get people involved in what you’re doing. If you don’t want to post online every day, find a writing buddy, friend or family member to hold you accountable instead. This way, on your worst days where you would rather do the dreaded housework than write, you have someone to remind you that actually, you do need to grab that five minutes and yes, it is important after all.

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Okay, still with me?

That's great. I knew you would be. That was a lot of information to take in in one go, so allow me to  summarise  the ten main points for building a daily writing routine: 

1. SET SMALL GOALS
2. DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY FOR 30 DAYS TO FORM A HABIT
3. GO FOR QUANTITY AND CONSISTENCY OVER QUALITY AND CONTENT
4. CREATE A REWARD SYSTEM TO ENCOURAGE DAILY WRITING ACTIVITY
5. DO THE WORK, THEN SET IT ASIDE
6. DON'T GET BOGGED DOWN WITH HAVING TO WRITE
7. MAKE SURE YOU ARE WRITING FOR YOU
8. GO WITH YOUR WHIMS AND PASSING FANCIES
9. HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE
10. GET OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED IN WHAT YOU'RE DOING

Enjoyed this post? Well, my friend, I've created a spiffy bonus, just for you. If you haven't done so already, click below to grab your free bonus checklist to help keep you right on track. 

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF CHECKLIST!]