Writing Life

Unlike this glitter unicorn (“Glitter-Corn”) from the Reykjavik Pride parade that I saw last week, writing is not magic.

For a long time, and to be truthful, even to some degree right now, I’ve wished that writing was magic. I wish that I could just sit down at my computer, or with my notebook, and words would come flying out of my fingertips and onto the page and suddenly, I’d have a story or a book. Sometimes, when my writing is going well, it can feel like that. But nine days out of ten, it feels like work. Like this thing I have to do. Every day.

Writing is not magic.

It’s habit.

More and more, writing feels like something I have to do every day, like brushing my teeth or taking a shower, and if I don’t do it, it feels weird or just plain wrong.

I’m happy about this.

Because, in the end, in order to be a professional writer that gets stories and books written, writing has to be a habit for me.

Does it make it easier to sit down and do it?

Not really.

I’m still at the stage of habit formation where I dread it and avoid it. But, over time, I have faith that this will change.

It’s like when I first started meditating. In the beginning, I wanted to meditate every day for 20 minutes. At first, it felt like torture to sit and try to empty my mind of thoughts for even one minute. But, I did it every day, every morning after breakfast and reading, and in time, I was able to get to five minutes and then ten minutes and then fifteen minutes and eventually, 20 minutes. I don’t remember how long it took me to get to a natural place with meditation. I think it may have taken a year. I don’t know. But I do know that now I don’t even think about avoiding meditating or putting it off. It’s just the thing I do after eating breakfast and reading for a little while.

Meditation has become a habit.

That’s what I want to see happen with my writing.

I always want things to happen FAST, but I know that with my writing, making it into a regular habit without avoidance will take time. I still have a lot of fear and doubt every time I sit down to write. That may not completely go away. I’m okay with that as long as the avoidance is lessened. I can deal with ten minutes of fear and doubt, as long as I get to the writing. But not hours or days of avoidance. That’s got to go.

Want to learn more about using habits to be a productive writer?

Watch this video by Tim Grahl and Jeff Goins about microhabits.

It showed up in my inbox at just the right time so I thought I’d share it in case you’re in the same spot as me. It’s helpful and just a little over seven minutes. If you’re avoiding writing, you might as well use that time to learn something useful. Go ahead and watch it, and tell me what you think in the comments box below.

When I get back from Iceland in ten days, I’m going to try making writing the thing that I do after waking up, washing up, eating breakfast, reading a little, and meditation. I want writing to be the next step in my daily chain of habits. As Jeff Goins says in the video, “Frequency over quantity.” That’s my goal.

No more magical thinking. Okay, maybe just for ten minutes. But the rest of the time, it’s down to habit.

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is currently writing another novel that is a re-imagining of the Snow White fairy tale set in 1980s Seattle.

Glittercorn photo by Marcus Donner.

The first time I read about decision fatigue, a light bulb went off above my head. I couldn’t believe I didn’t know about it before! It’s basically the idea that people tend to make worse decisions after they’ve made a lot of decisions.

So that’s why I often make bad decisions at the end of the day. That’s why if I do too many activities before sitting down to write, I often don’t have any energy left to actually write. Writing is FULL of decisions. There have been many days when I not only don’t want to write, I can’t even get up the energy to write.

I’m totally fatigued, dead dog tired, of making decisions.

With this in mind, after deciding to solider up and be a writer, I decided to also do all I could to lessen my everyday decisions.

The first thing I did was clean out my closet.

Now, truth be told, my closet is already pretty tidy, but it wasn’t organized to help me avoid decision fatigue. The clothes that I wore every day–pants and tops–were all in drawers, while the clothes that I barely wore–mostly dresses–were all hanging up.

First, I dumped out my drawers of everyday clothes and hung these clothes up.

Next, I took all my dresses off their hangers, folded them, and placed them in the drawers.

Then, I took a hard look at all my jackets and sweaters that were hanging up and asked myself if I had worn that item in the last month. If I hadn’t, I took it and hung it in the guest room closet. At the end of the month, if I still haven’t worn those items, they’re going to the Goodwill. (Two exceptions that I’m keeping are my tailored leather jacket and velvet blazer for those times when I have to dress up.)

Now, when I get dressed in the morning, it takes only a minute to pick out a top, a pair of pants, and a sweater or jacket to wear because the only things hanging on the rod are clothes that I wear all the time. It’s made my mornings a lot easier. Someday, I might even switch to wearing a uniform like art director Matilda Day. It’s tempting.

Next week I’m working on simplifying my meals, something that seems to take the most time from my day and can also causes me the most stress. Onward!

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is also the founder of Prelaw Guru, a law school application consulting company, and the author of The No B.S. Guides for prelaw students.

Photo Credit: SnapperAaron via Compfight cc

Ira Glass, Host of This American Life, says at the end of his How I Work interview with LifeHacker to “Begin now. Be a f**king soldier about it and be tough.”

I read this interview a few years ago and I loved that last line.

So, when I had yet another disappointing day of serious self-doubt where I started looking for jobs again and thinking that I just don’t have what it takes to be a writer, I remembered that piece of advice from Ira.

I woke up early today and decided things were going to be different, starting now.

I’m rearranging my schedule and my attitude to make writing and learning about writing my main goal.

I want to be a successful writer.

I want to write the best novels that I can possibly write.

I want to share stories that let people know they aren’t alone.

I want to feel proud of my work.

When I die, I want to die knowing that I did what I wanted to do.

Over the coming months, I’m putting into practice a routine for myself that includes regular exercise, healthy food, reading, writing, and even time to socialize. I’ve realized over the last two months that trying to be a writing monk doesn’t work for me. I have to balance the solitary nature of writing with my extroverted need to talk with people.

I have the time and resources this year to delve deep into my writing and to improve my craft. It’s time to take advantage of this gift.

Future blog posts will be about the new habits, practices, and techniques I’ve put into place and how it’s working out.

No more excuses.

No more whining.

Time to solider up and do it.

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is also the founder of Prelaw Guru, a law school application consulting company, and the author of The No B.S. Guides for prelaw students.

Photo by Paul Abell / AP Images of U.S. Army Reserve Major Lisa Jaster, center, the third woman to graduate from the elite Ranger School. Jaster, 37, joins just two other women, Capt. Kristen Griest, 26, left, and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, 25, right, in gaining the coveted Ranger tab.