StoryADay Sept is over. You did great. You wrote. You participated in the community. You got a real boost from all the creativity.
But now it’s half way through October and you’re not writing nearly as much, if at all. You feel like a failure.
Change Your Point Of View
As with so much of your writing, this too, is a matter of Point of View.
If you’re feeling discouraged, it’s probably because you thought StoryADay was helping you build a great writing practice. You wrote every day. So why aren’t you still writing a story a day?
Because StADa wasn’t about building habits. It was bootcamp. You can’t keep it up.
So Now What?
Now it’s time to ask what you learned from writing a story a day.
- What did you learn about the types of stories you like you write?
- What did you learn about the time of day you write best?
- What did you learn about the value of finishing?
- What did you learn about your need for community?
- What did you learn about your writing strengths and weaknesses?
How you can use those lessons to improve not just your writing but also to create new writing habits?
- What will you commit to doing?
(Hint: think of something that sounds reasonable, then commit to doing half as much.)
- How will you track your progress?
(Hint: make it as simple as possible. If you, like me, have a gadget clamped in your hand at any time and think a monthly word-count goal will help you, please help yourself to a copy of my “Writing Log” in Google Docs. Otherwise, every day when you do write, color in a box on your paper calendar with a green pencil so you can see at a glance how you’re doing.)
- How will you get other people to help you stay accountable?
(Hint: check in with the very welcoming SWAGr group here, on the first of every month).
Tomorrow I’ll talk about Anchoring Habits and a scientifically-tested process for making your new writing habits stick.
In the meantime, leave a comment sharing how you’re getting on, what you learned and what you will commit to doing to improve your writing habits.