Hans.Trondheim
Till Seger!
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2021
- Messages
- 1,907
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What is a routine?
For educators like me (I'm a public high school teacher irl), routine are the things I and my students automatically do whenever we are in class. The simple "Good morning!", taking of attendance, and even checking on my students' well-being are some examples.
"Hans, can we apply this to writing?"
Yes, especially to authors who plan. As I said in my other threads, I'm a planner type of author. Routine helps me in circumventing my trait as a lazy bum who'd rather cram stuff in the last day, than actually do it easy as weeks pass.
With that, along with other factors like self-discipline and motivation to finish, I finished a long isekai-harem story with 1.3 million words, 400+ chapters, 5 arcs, and hundreds of illustrations I drew myself.
(Hey, tis different from quality though, no matter how I tried to keep quality in my chapters)
So anyway, how to build a routine?
1) As a writer, you have to get to know yourself first. How are you motivated? What distracts you from focusing on writing?
For me, when I was starting, I fell for that myth and hubris of "My idea is exceptional! Readers will like it!". But reality slapped me on the face, so I changed what motivates me. From "getting popular and monetizing my work someday", I settled for a more achievable goal of "finishing something I set out to do."
I have more control in that, as opposed to letting other judge my work.
As for distractions, well, I identified activities that gets me distracted, like drawing, playjng games, watching docus, reading, etc.
2) After knowing your flaws, devise a plan on how to change or circumvent them. Changing yourself is hard, especially when you suffer from things you can't really control (like me suffering from bipolar condition). If you can't change your bad habits, then circumvent them.
A few fellow denizens in this forum would insist that I'm not lazy, but, I know myself. I am lazy. So, to get around it, I imposed myself deadlines. Whenever I write, I give myself 3-4 weeks to write an entire manuscript. I would also stay away from other activities, those I identified as distractions.
Then, after that 3-4 weeks, I'll stop writing, and do the reverse. In a sense, getting to do stuff other than writing is a reward for me.
3) Once you developed a course of action, practice it frequently.
Routines only start to take root if you keep repeating it. So definitely, self-discipline and focus to your goal will help you keep what you plan and develop it into a routine.
Once successful, you'll be surprised you wrote a book so smoothly that you are afraid that you might be missing something, though in reality, you didn't. Tis just the routine kicking in.
Hope this helps!
For educators like me (I'm a public high school teacher irl), routine are the things I and my students automatically do whenever we are in class. The simple "Good morning!", taking of attendance, and even checking on my students' well-being are some examples.
"Hans, can we apply this to writing?"
Yes, especially to authors who plan. As I said in my other threads, I'm a planner type of author. Routine helps me in circumventing my trait as a lazy bum who'd rather cram stuff in the last day, than actually do it easy as weeks pass.
With that, along with other factors like self-discipline and motivation to finish, I finished a long isekai-harem story with 1.3 million words, 400+ chapters, 5 arcs, and hundreds of illustrations I drew myself.
(Hey, tis different from quality though, no matter how I tried to keep quality in my chapters)
So anyway, how to build a routine?
1) As a writer, you have to get to know yourself first. How are you motivated? What distracts you from focusing on writing?
For me, when I was starting, I fell for that myth and hubris of "My idea is exceptional! Readers will like it!". But reality slapped me on the face, so I changed what motivates me. From "getting popular and monetizing my work someday", I settled for a more achievable goal of "finishing something I set out to do."
I have more control in that, as opposed to letting other judge my work.
As for distractions, well, I identified activities that gets me distracted, like drawing, playjng games, watching docus, reading, etc.
2) After knowing your flaws, devise a plan on how to change or circumvent them. Changing yourself is hard, especially when you suffer from things you can't really control (like me suffering from bipolar condition). If you can't change your bad habits, then circumvent them.
A few fellow denizens in this forum would insist that I'm not lazy, but, I know myself. I am lazy. So, to get around it, I imposed myself deadlines. Whenever I write, I give myself 3-4 weeks to write an entire manuscript. I would also stay away from other activities, those I identified as distractions.
Then, after that 3-4 weeks, I'll stop writing, and do the reverse. In a sense, getting to do stuff other than writing is a reward for me.
3) Once you developed a course of action, practice it frequently.
Routines only start to take root if you keep repeating it. So definitely, self-discipline and focus to your goal will help you keep what you plan and develop it into a routine.
Once successful, you'll be surprised you wrote a book so smoothly that you are afraid that you might be missing something, though in reality, you didn't. Tis just the routine kicking in.
Hope this helps!
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