writing habits

Stop Adding, and Try Subtracting!

Published on by Kristi Holl

I woke up feeling sick today, and it is my own fault. I ate both gluten and sugar yesterday, and a lot of it, which is a no-no if I want to feel well.

My writing to-do list was daunting, and while I wanted to make great strides ahead today, I just didn’t have the oomph. 

Then I remembered something my favorite habits guy, James Clear, said in his article, To Make Big Gains, Avoid Tiny Losses.”

In many cases, improvement is not about doing more things right, but about doing less things wrong… Improvement by addition is focused on doing more of what does work. Improvement by subtraction is focused on doing less of what doesn’t work.

Best Choice Today!

I’m too “under the weather” today to improve by ADDING more to my plate: not write faster, or write a longer period of time, or read a productivity book. Today I’m going to improve by SUBTRACTING things that don’t work: poor food choices, binge watching a show, and checking email every five minutes. Can I really making writing improvements that way?

[UPDATE LATER: I didn’t add various strategies in order to write more today. I simply subtracted (1) my poor food choices, (2) the presence of my phone for two hours, and (3) closed all social media tabs for the morning. And despite feeling rather rotten physically, I wrote more this morning than I have all week. Thank you, James Clear, for reminding me that there are  two paths to improvement.

Living the 5-Minute Life

Published on by Kristi Holl

I’m too old, I’m too tired, I can’t write for hours anymore… But something won’t let me quit writing! Is there a solution?

Through a lot of trial and error, I found the solution for me: the 5-Minute Life. It didn’t just revolutionize my writing. You can also break a bad habit, or start a good habit, or rest when you’re weary—all in 5-Minute slices of your day.

Solving Problems, 5 Minutes at a Time 

Want to break a habit of overeating at a meal and not stopping when you’ve had enough? After your meal, set your kitchen timer for 5 minutes and do something else. Maybe you’ll still eat more when the timer dings, but many times you won’t. The craving actually disappears in about 90 seconds, according to “habit experts.”

Want to start a new habit? Maybe lift weights, floss your teeth, write on your work-in-progress daily? Set your kitchen timer for 5 minutes, and when it dings, you can quit! Or, if you feel like going longer, you can and often will. (Getting started is usually more than half the battle, and you conquered that. Staying in motion is immeasurably easier.)

What about weariness or those pesky aches and pains? When you realize that your body is protesting, stop and set your timer for 5 minutes. Close your eyes and do deep breathing. Listen to uplifting music, something that soothes your soul. Wander around your back yard and see what’s blooming. You’ll be amazed how much 5 minutes can refresh you. (Just don’t waste it on your phone, email or social media. You’ll feel worse instead.)

“It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it. If you don’t want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process, is to guarantee disappointment.” ~~James Clear, author of Atomic Habits

WELL, YES . . . AND NO.

Live the 5-Minute Life? How?

“To crave the result [the finished manuscript] but not the process [your writing habits, or eating habits, or sleeping habits, etc.] is to guarantee disappointment.”

I had a suspicion that something was wrong with my process. After floundering, I would have wonderful energetic re-starts, but the older I got, the amount of time I could stick to my writing schedule grew smaller. No matter how you take care of your health, age happens (if you’re lucky) and energy declines a bit each year.

I was sick and tired of giving up, getting depressed over NOT writing, then reading motivational books, praying hard, making check charts for the closet door to keep track of my work hours…and after a week or so, quitting again.

When younger, I could keep a rigorous writing schedule while teaching and raising kids, but not now at 71. I wanted to live the process and love it, but I found myself no longer able. [And it still bugs me to admit this.] Did that mean I had to quit writing books? It was beginning to seem so. 

But, but, but…

What if I could invent a writing process that I COULD fall in love with all over again? When I started writing and publishing in 1983, I had to work my writing around a newborn, a toddler, and a newly adopted boy from Korea who spoke no English. But I found a writing process (writing in bits and pieces) that worked for me then, so I launched my career (while we added yet another baby.) Many of those experiences became my two writing books, Writer’s First Aid and More Writer’s First Aid.

The More Things Change…

. . . the more they stay the same.

I’m no longer scrambling for bits of time in the same way. But getting started writing when not feeling well or when busy with volunteer and grandchildren activities still takes some grit. However, writing or marketing for five minutes is doable for anyone.

Yes, more than half the time, my 5-minute chunks of writing or marketing stretched into 30-45 minutes. Even when it didn’t, though, I was astounded by how much I could do in 5 minutes–just like I had trained myself to do during the baby years. I started giving myself high fives for every bit I wrote. Silly maybe, but it worked!

Where There’s a Will

I stop for different reasons now, of course. It’s not because a toddler fell and cut her lip or a baby needs changing. It is more often the aches in my wrists [shattered left wrist in 2017 and broken right hand in 2019] that crawl up my arms. But while stopping is different, starting is remarkably similar.

Give it a shot and see! Live the 5-Minute Writing Life!

Find Your Focus: Stick to the ONE Thing

Published on by Kristi Holl

“Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.” ~Josh Billings

This quote comes from a book I love called The ONE Thing: the Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller. As I mentioned last week, after a number of back-to-back setbacks, I needed to relaunch my writing habits. It has been harder than I expected for a number of reasons.

For one thing, I had waited several months to be able to see again and also to move my right hand. So, I didn’t just get behind on my writing. In addition, I “lost sight” of a few other important goals. I was in enough pain that exercising just made the pain worse. So, I quit for a short season (which turned into a loooong season). Because I couldn’t see to drive at night for months, some events with friends and family members were canceled. 

So when I finally felt well enough to write again, I wasn’t just behind with the writing. I had gained some weight I wanted to lose and was breathless and out of shape. And, of course, I wanted to re-schedule important events with friends and family. AND THERE WASN’T TIME TO DO EVERYTHING.

Juggling MANY Things

Life is a juggling act in the best of times. But when we’re knocked out of commission for a while, due to health or family or job crises, we are eager to get caught up in all areas of our lives. In the past, I tried to ramp up performance in all areas simultaneously, becoming a writer running on adrenaline. After all, most of our dearest goals are truly important! You want to catch up on them all. And that, in turn, makes us feel overwhelmed and stuck.

The author of The ONE Thing was in a similar situation. He finally realized he couldn’t do it all, at least not at one time. He couldn’t do five things, or four, or even two–and do them really well. Not with full focus. Not with enough focus to be successful. The question he learned to ask himself repeatedly, in every situation, turned his entire life around.

What was that question?

“What’s the ONE Thing you can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

Sorting It All Out

According to the1thing.com website, “Gary Keller has identified that behind every successful person is their ONE Thing. No matter how success is measured, personal or professional, only the ability to dismiss distractions and concentrate on your ONE Thing stands between you and your goals. The ONE Thing is about getting extraordinary results in every situation.” Not only does this strategy help you really focus so you can succeed, it also cuts your stress. 

To me, there’s nothing quite as stressful as jumping back and forth from one task to another on my “to do” list. I didn’t focus on my major goal—in this case, writing a book. Instead I put out fires and crossed items off my list that were either the easiest or the quickest. Many items led down rabbit trails, since answering one email usually leads to several more. Adding a short update to your Facebook page leads to scrolling, reading, commenting and liking your friends’ posts. Time is lost, and you haven’t even started your most important project.

If you’re like me, you might be saying, “But I have several very important goals. I can’t choose just one!” I understand that feeling. But focusing on one main thing is a skill we can learn. If learning how to focus on one main goal FIRST is important to you, give this book a try. In addition to much practical help in the book, the author provides free downloads, podcasts, and teachings for their “ONE Thing” method at their Resources page. 

Choosing The ONE Thing

Yes, right now I am taking small steps with an exercise program. I’ve also rescheduled smaller events with friends and family. However, I decided that my ONE thing to focus “all in” during the rest of the summer was re-establishing my writing habit and finishing a book I started months ago. To accomplish this, I am using what the author calls time blocking. So far, it’s working really well. 

In past years, my “one thing” was dealing with health issues that had stopped me cold in my writing. Once I got the autoimmune disease in remission, my “one thing” could be something else. Other years I have had 6-9 months where my “one thing” had to be working on a particular relationship that was impacting everything else in my life.   

Focusing On the Right One Thing

Usually we sense which goal is our most important one. But we can be wrong! Don’t automatically assume you know what your “one thing” is. Suppose you want to lose weight, so it seems obvious that your goal is to eat less and exercise more. But when you ask yourself the book’s key question (What’s the ONE Thing you can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?), you might discover that actually it’s your lack of sufficient sleep leading you to not exercise, want comfort carbs at all hours, and be depressed. So, your “one thing” that would make everything easier might be going to bed every night by 10:00. It could fix a host of problems causing you to gain weight.

Take time alone to think, pray, journal, and listen for guidance when choosing your ONE thing. If you need help to identify your focused goal right now, The1Thing website has some helpful articles. Read “How to Identify What Matters Most.” Then for help implementing your plan, see “Revisiting Your System for Time Blocking.” 

Then you’ll be like a postage stamp. You’ll stick to one thing until you successfully get there.

Begin as You Mean to Go On

Published on by Kristi Holl

I’ve been home from my England research trip for six weeks now. My cottage writing table next to my fireplace is such a fond memory!

I was determined to carry on with my good writing and health habits as soon as I got home. I had felt so well in England, while also accomplishing so much writing, and it was important to me to carry those lessons home.

Since being home, I had some wonderful wins, and a few spectacular fails. As is usual in real life, the fails taught me more than the wins. It didn’t teach me that I couldn’t replicate my time overseas–far from it–but it sure revealed where my structure was the weakest.

Begin as You Mean to Go On

I was determined to do four things when I got home that I had decided were my biggest “wins” while in England. [See my ten blog posts with photos from October beginning with this one.]

  1. I would get up very early every day, by 5:00 a.m. I would start my day with my tea and quiet time.
  2. I would begin writing by 6:00, before talking to anyone. (I have it easier than many people here. My husband works nights, so he is asleep until 9:00 or so.) But I used to get that early when my children were young too.
  3. I would exercise throughout the morning, either with short walking breaks or five-minute weights routines or stretches. [I need it for my back and posture, but at the end of the working day, I just don’t want to do it.]
  4. I would go to bed early so I got a good night’s sleep before getting up at 5:00. I would get off ALL screens (including phone) after 8:00.

It was fairly easy to get up at 5 and begin writing by 6 for the first week. But it got harder and harder, which first surprised me. I had had no trouble for three weeks in England getting up that early without an alarm clock.

What Went Wrong? A Vicious Cycle

So I looked at calendar and my list of meetings and doctors’ appointments, and that was a big part of the problem. I had meetings and appointments several days in a row that took my prime writing time, and so I struggled to write in the afternoon which bled over into the evening because days are full of distractions and interruptions. I found very early that one hour of writing in the morning before talking to anyone was worth at least three hours of writing time later in the day. And because I am slow during the afternoons, it ran over into the evening. So, then I ate late, got to bed too late, and couldn’t get up at 5:00 a.m. anymore.

But what to do?!?! The doctors’ appointments were the important kind where they are booked up months in advance, and if you don’t take the available choices the receptionist gives you, you have to wait several more months. And I’m not in charge of the volunteer group I work with the most, so I’m not in charge of calling the times for the work days. (Our leader always wants them first thing in the morning.) So I fumed through a couple of those days as I wasted my best writing hours doing non-brain chores instead.

An Experiment With Boundaries (Done Pleasantly)

So I tried an experiment, just to see if I had more choices than I thought. After the lung scan I had, the receptionist needed to set up an appointment for me to see the results. Of course, her choice was at 9 a.m. When I asked for a later time, she said her next available choice was in February, three months away. (I was always an “automatic yes” before when faced with this kind of choice.) This time, though, I said that the February date was fine as I didn’t particularly care when I got the results. She said nothing, then went back to her computer and offered me a choice in two weeks for 3 p.m. Aha! (I have done this twice now with the same results.)

Boundaries With Helping Others

The first week I was home, I fulfilled both of my agreed volunteer times, but during all the sorting, packing, etc. I did for two mornings, I was thinking! I love this volunteer project, but I could do most of the work even brain dead. So when the leader called for the next morning meeting, I said mornings no longer worked for me. I offered to take the boxes of stuff home to sort in the evenings, or I offered to come to the work room at 3 and work for several hours. She said no. I said (pleasantly) that I understood her position, but I would need to resign and find another organization that fit my work hours better. Very short pause before she changed her mind and said I could take the work home, then bring it back some afternoon. Bingo again!

Home Health Habits

One more failure and fix: I also stopped exercising when I got home, resulting in some terrific backaches from sitting too long. Admittedly, the English countryside and Victorian buildings were such a wonderful enticement to get out frequently and walk. And coming home to Texas temperatures and cactus countryside wasn’t that appealing.

But I hunted for another system that would work for me and discovered a new book called Elastic Habits, which I will definitely blog about soon. The system outlined has worked for me to get back to the intermittent exercise I found so helpful when away. So, bit by bit, I am re-creating my English cottage experience in my Texas office (which looks like England now actually, with all my souvenirs and photos.)

Bring Home Your Retreat

Way too often, we give up on our writing retreat experience, whether one that lasts a weekend or two weeks. But with enough determination to FIND A WAY to replicate it, you can in so many ways. Find out what works best for YOU as a writer. Your body rhythms may recoil at the idea of working so early. That’s fine. This is just what I found worked really well when I had the freedom to choose my own eating/sleeping/writing/exercising schedule. Yours will undoubtedly be different.

But do your best to find and implement it. Don’t assume, like I always have, that you have few or no choices. Give your writing more importance in your schedule, and you’ll reap so many rewards, including loving your writing process again.

Blasting Off: Reclaiming a Daily Writing Habit

Published on by Kristi Holl

I launched my writing rocket 35 years ago. With a daily writing habit, it took off and kept my career orbiting, despite getting off-course sometimes and necessitating a re-calculation. In theory, a re-launch would never be required. 

But the last couple of years have wreaked havoc with my writing routine. Breaking my left wrist in four places, learning to type again, losing my mom, breaking my right hand in two places, two eye surgeries (one of which went awry), and a couple other major life “events” meant that I have spent the last few years learning how to start again . . . and again . . . and yet again. 

Why So EXHAUSTING?

Thank you to each one of you who wrote to ask if I were okay. I really appreciated that. I knew that I both needed and wanted to get back to blogging. First, I needed to face the fact that I’d replaced my iron-clad writing routine with a “maybe I will, I’m so tired, maybe I won’t write today” attitude. That needed fixing first. I had succumbed to Newton’s first law where objects at rest tended to stay at rest!

I tried to get back into my former writing routine (devotions early in the morning, followed by a time block of four hours for writing). Even with my mental flogging, I could only manage that routine for a few days. Then I cut back to two hours, then half an hour, and then gave up altogether for three or four days.

I had no energy for it! But why? I was happy when writing, but instead of energizing me again, it wore me out now! That really worried me.

Pull of Inertia Vs. Lift-Off

The answer came when I was listening to a podcast last week. Someone mentioned how much energy a rocket needed for lift-off. Did you know that 70% of the fuel on board a rocket is used up during take-off, trying to escape the pull of the earth’s gravity? Seventy percent! The rest, a measly 30%, is all that is needed to get to the moon and back (or wherever the rocket is headed) once the rocket is up to speed.

A light bulb went on when I heard that. Getting started with my writing routine again seemed to take so much energy each time. Apparently it wasn’t my imagination either. I always knew that getting started was the hardest part, but now it made sense why. It took more than half of my energy! I was in the habit now of sitting, not writing, or watching Britbox mysteries, not writing.

So it was no wonder that, after overcoming my inertia, I had little energy left for writing.

Blast Off? Who’s Kidding Who?

Did you ever notice how S-L-O-W those rockets lift off? They don’t blast off! They make lots of noise, raise lots of dust and smoke, shake and shimmy, and barely move an inch or two. Then more noise and dust, and they lift off six inches, then a foot. But it takes a lot of noise and effort and time to reach any kind of speed or escape velocity.

And that is exactly how we “lift off” again when our daily writing habit has been disturbed a few times. We shake and shimmy, make noise and smoke, burn more than half our energy, and lift off an inch at a time. But we DO lift off!

A Daily Writing Habit: Give It Time

If my theory was right, I knew what to do. I tried something new.  I granted myself the grace to admit how much energy it took to get started again. If actually sitting down and creating words out of thin air again was going to take 70% of my energy, then I wouldn’t expect my remaining 30% to produce four solid hours of writing.

No.

Instead, I expected to write one full hour with my remaining energy. That mini goal equaled a very successful day. I’ve followed that routine all week, and I’ve succeeded five days in a row so far. Actually, today I went beyond the hour because I still had some energy left. I doubled my daily word count, in fact, but was no more tired than yesterday after one hour.

THIS IS THE POWER OF HABITS, in my opinion. That is why I aim to write daily from now on. I never want to get back to the place where simply attaining “lift off” takes 70% of my energy. With a daily writing habit, you slip into it almost without effort. That leaves about 95% of your energy–NOT 30%–for your writing.

And that’s the kind of magical writing day that leaves you more energized than you began.

Borrowing Habits

Published on by Kristi Holl

Back in college, I had a friend who lamented, “If only I could run on my stomach!”

She loved to run, never missed a day, and had thighs of steel. She also loved to eat, never missed a snack, and had a stomach like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. If only she could apply her running skills to her eating problem!

Actually, she could have. And you can make better use of your own good habits, applying those skills to your writing. You can transfer some good habits from one area of your life and apply them to an area where you want to be more consistent—like your writing.

The “successful role model” in the Jack Canfield quote above could easily be YOU.

Who, Me?

“But I don’t have self-discipline in anything!” you might say. You may feel that way, but it’s probably not true. Don’t believe me? Think about something you’re good at. Next, write down five or six habits you practice regularly that make you successful in this area. (Can be anything: running races, keeping a clean house, raising children who are kind to each other, keeping your weight stable through the holidays…anything.)

I Don’t Think About It

Perhaps you said, “Well, I was a good student” or “I learned to play the piano,” but you’re not sure what habits made you successful. If that’s the case, pretend that someone approached you and said, “I’d love to be as self-disciplined as you are with your (fitness, music, housekeeping, whatever). Tell me how you do it!” Then make a list of what you do. Which of those habits can you transfer over to your writing life and make them work for you?

The habits that help you lose weight or be fit or run a business might include:

  • having a support system
  • keeping a written record (of food eaten, miles run, income/expenses)
  • setting very small, sustainable daily goals
  • journaling through successes and failures
  • monitoring self-talk to counter-act negative thoughts and beliefs

Borrow Those Habits!

The next time you can’t seem to make yourself write or blog or do market research (or whatever is on your “to do” list for the writing day), think about areas where you are successful. Borrow those habits–they’re habits you already have under your belt in one area–and simply apply them to your writing.

  • Does having a support group help you lose weight? Then maybe a support/critique group would help you be accountable for your writing.
  • Does keeping written records help you balance your budget? Then maybe keeping records of pages or words written and marketing progress would help your writing.
  • Did setting small daily goals help you get your closets and garage clean? Then would setting small daily goals help you get your book written?

By the same token, notice what you don’t do to be successful. For example, I have friends who swear by having an exercise partner or going to a gym to work out. (I dislike both of those things.) So while these writers also have critique partners and write in coffee shops with others, I don’t find either of those ideas helpful either. We all have our own styles, based on our personalities. I do much better as my own accountability partner, using kitchen timers and check marks on a calendar for everything from cleaning my house to writing my novels. And total quiet is such a benefit to me, while it makes some writers too antsy to sit still and work.

Build on Past Success

Good habits free up our time and attention so we can focus on more important things than overcoming procrastination. Chances are very good that you have had success in at least one or two other areas of your life. Take time to analyze those habits that work for your particular personality–and try applying them to your writing life. Success may be easier than you think.

Not Enough Willpower to Reach Your Goals? Make Mini Habits!

Published on by Kristi Holl

“Focus on the process and you’ll be able to change your circumstances.” (Stephen Guise, author of Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results)

[While writing in England, I am re-posting favorite articles from the past. This one from four years ago still helps me today!]

One lesson I learned on my sabbatical was that my goals and desires outstripped my willpower.

I had high hopes and high expectations for the three months of the media “fast,” but I rarely was able to stick to my very carefully crafted daily schedule. It wasn’t the interruptions or distractions either. I simply felt overwhelmed by the goals I had set, even though I KNEW I had plenty of time to do them.

Goal Intimidation

I hadn’t scheduled 12-hour writing days or anything. In fact, on paper, they looked quite easy for the days I was home alone all day:

  • 2 hours writing  
  • 2 hours studying writing techniques (books, online classes, etc.)
  • 1 hour reading and research

Piece of cake, right? Especially since this was work I really, really wanted to do!

Willpower Burnout

I’ve survived and pushed through and gritted my teeth and met deadlines and ignored headaches for decades…using willpower. But as I faced writing several mysteries for adults that I signed contracts for, my willpower took a hike. I have no idea where it went, but it’s gone into hiding. When the willpower left, the panic arrived.

And then I read the book pictured above. I have read a lot of books on focus, self-management, and the like. Most I don’t finish, to be honest. Many I never get past the first few chapters. I had finally decided that there was nothing new under the sun.

But reviews for Mini Habits were wonderful and by people struggling with the same issues I was. I bought it and started it, not with any real hope, to be honest. But I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a day.

Mini Habits

The author’s scientifically researched, experience based, easy-to-read and understand book says this:  

You can succeed without the guilt, intimidation, and repeated failure associated with such strategies as “getting motivated,” New Year’s Resolutions, or even “just doing it.” In fact, you need to stop using those strategies if they aren’t giving you great results…It’s only when you start playing by your brain’s rules and taking your human limitations seriously–as mini habits show you how to do–that you can achieve lasting change.

From Hopeless to Hopeful

I couldn’t wait to try it. I was honestly amazed that something this simple could be so effective and stress-free!

And what are my new (silly sounding) daily mini writing goals?

  • Write or revise 50 words  
  • Read and do one page of my current craft or study book 
  • 15 minutes of research or professional reading

Has it worked? YES! For me, feeling overwhelmed and getting started has always been the hardest part. Having mini goals in order to create habits is so EASY. And just as he predicted, most of the time you’ll go over your mini habit goal. [For example, I am writing this blog using my “write 50 words today” goal. Until now, I forgot to check the word count, but it’s up to 406 right here.]

However, the next time I sit down to write, I will NOT “adjust my goals up” and tell myself I must write 400 words minimum. No…my internal resistance to writing that much is almost immediate! A goal that size uses a lot more willpower. (Maybe not for you, but it does for me. We’re all different.)

My new writing goals for the day are so EASY to do, so non-threatening, that I don’t miss a day. The writing habit gets ingrained, my mind now believes that getting started is easy, and later in the day I often WANT to sit down and knock off another 50 words (which, more often than not, stretches past 1,000 words before I want to stop.)

If getting started or developing a daily writing habit with ease is your goal, I high recommend Mini Habits. Give it a try!

When It’s Time to Update Your Writing Habits

Published on by Kristi Holl

writingSome writing habits can serve you all the days of your life. But other writing habits need to be moderated or tossed out when your season of life changes.

I’m in a season like that right now, and one thing that works for me during such changing times is to read about famous authors’ writing habits. It gives me ideas of what might work better in my fluctuating circumstances.

Time To Change?

Sometimes the need to revise our writing habits is obvious. Your times and places to write before you have your first child may never match your writing times and places after the babies start to arrive. The same is true for writing when you have a full-time job compared to when you’re retired. (And that changes again when your elderly father moves in with you.) Or when you’re healthy compared to when you’re healing from an accident or illness. So many events can leave you feel overloaded and in need of changing your habits.

Life is always changing, and sometimes drastically. But even with the common, garden-variety type of life changes, old writing habits can become obsolete. Other more workable habits need to replace them if your career is to continue.

Writers Reveal Their Writing Habits

Is your life is in a state of flux at the moment? If your previous schedule and habits no longer work for you, consider a change. Check with successful published writers. See what works for them. Then feel free to copy anything you like and try their habits on for size. We can all learn from each other.

Some great places to start looking include:

Talent, Passion, and Discipline: a Balancing Act

Published on by Kristi Holl

As a writer, don’t ever underestimate the power of self-discipline. Talent, passion, and discipline are needed—but the greatest of these is discipline.

Best-selling author Elizabeth George speaks to this point on the first day she faces her students in her creative writing classes. Study this quote from her book, Write Away—and read through to the zinger at the end. This multi-published, mega award-winning author tells them:

“You will be published if you possess three qualities—talent, passion, and discipline.

 

You will probably be published if you possess two of the three qualities in either combination—either talent and discipline, or passion and discipline.

 

You will likely be published if you possess neither talent nor passion, but still have discipline. Just go the bookstore and pick up a few ‘notable’ titles and you’ll see what I mean.

 

But if all you possess is talent or passion, if all you possess is talent and passion, you will not be published. The likelihood is you will never be published. And if by some miracle you are published, it will probably never happen again.”

Be Encouraged!

This is great news for all writers, I believe. We worry sometimes that we don’t have enough talent, that we have nothing original to say, that our voices won’t attract today’s readers. But as Ms. George says above—and after writing and teaching for thirty years, I totally agree–discipline is what will make you or break you as a writer.

Why is this good news? Because self-discipline can be mastered, bit by bit, day by day, until it’s a habit. Talent is a gift over which we have no control, and passion comes and goes with our feelings and circumstances. But your necessary ingredient to success—discipline—can belong to anyone.

Do whatever you have to do to develop the writing habit. Let that be your focus, and see if the writing—and publishing—doesn’t take care of itself!

The Dynamics of Change

Published on by Kristi Holl

We’re nearly ready to begin a new writing year! Or ARE you ready? This year you don’t have to get behind on your goals or quit. Why? Because this time you’re going to take time to understand the dynamics of change.

Did you know that 75% of New Year’s Resolutions (or goals) are abandoned by the end of the first week? The number is higher at the end of January. There’s a reason for that.

From Temporary to Permanent

I spend much time on the blog encouraging you to make changes and deal with feelings that are holding you back. So I thought it might help us stay on track as we move through this new year to do a short series on the dynamics of change–or how to make permanent changes.

How do we make changes that stick? How can you be one of the 10% to 15% who keeps on keepin’ on and accomplishes his or her writing goals?

Change in Stages

One mistake we make is thinking that change happens as an act of will only. (e.g. “Starting today, I will write from 9 to 10 a.m.”) If our willpower and determination are strong, we’ll write at 9 a.m. today. If it’s very strong, we’ll make it a week. If you are extraordinarily iron-willed (and never have life interruptions or get sick), you might make it the necessary 21-30 days proven to make it a habit.

Most writers won’t be able to do it.

Why? Because accomplishing permanent change–the critical step to meeting any of your writing goals–is more than choosing and acting on willpower. (And if you master the mini habits way, you won’t need much willpower either.) If you want to achieve your goals, you need to understand the dynamics of change. You must understand what changes habits–the rules of the game, so to speak.

Making Change Doable

All of the habits we’ve talked about in the past–dividing goals into very small do-able slices, rewarding yourself frequently, etc.–are important. They are tools in the process of change.

However, we need to understand the process of change, the steps every successful person goes through who makes desired changes. (It applies to relationship changes and health changes as well, but we’ll be concentrating on career/writing changes.) Understanding the stages doesn’t make change easy, but “it makes it predictable, understandable, and doable,” says Neil Fiore, Ph.D., author of the The NOW Habit.

Change takes place in four main stages, according to numerous government and university studies. Skipping any of the four stages lowers your odds drastically of making permanent changes that lead to a sucessful meeting of goals.

Here are the four stages of change that I will talk about in the following four blog posts. Understanding–and implementing–these consecutive steps is critical for most people’s success in achieving goals and permanent change.

Stages of Change

  • Stage 1: Making Up Your Mind (the pre-commitment stage). This stage will involve feeling the pain that prompts you to want to change, evaluating risks and benefits of the goal you have in mind, and evaluating your current ability.
  • Stage 2: Committing to Change. This stage involves planning the necessary steps and considering possible distractions and things that might happen to discourage you or cause a setback.
  • Stage 3: Taking Action. This stage includes several big steps. You must decide when, where and how to start; you must show up to start despite fears and self-doubts; then you must focus on each step.
  • Stage 4: Maintaining Long-Term Success. This is your ultimate aim if you want writing to be a career. It will involve learning to recover from setbacks and getting mentally tough for the long haul.

(For a thorough discussion beyond the blog posts, see Chapters 11-14 of Neil Fiore’s Awaken Your Strongest Self.)

The Blueprint

So…that’s the plan for the next few blog posts. Do not despair if you’ve struggled with meeting your writing goals in the past. Help–and hope for permanent change–is on the way. I probably struggled with this for twenty years, despite desperately wanting to write full-time. But until I learned that there was more to it than Stage 3 actions, I failed repeatedly.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s make the writing discipline permanently effective so we can move on to the fun of daily writing!