How to Keep Writing
The journey of a writer can be a challenging one. However, the best strategy to overcome these challenges is to develop the discipline of writing.
This will help you to become the best copywriter, journalist or author you can be.
1. Take up Journaling
Many writers often start out by journaling. There is just some hidden intrinsic desire, propelling them forward. They must capture a moment, in words. For some, it starts out as a way of dealing with stressful situations.
After all, writing is cathartic.
I had many diaries or journals growing up. If I remember correctly, this started around my teenage years. You know this can be one of the most conflicting and perplexing periods in a person’s life.
Writing helped me to make sense of the world and to make sense of who I was and what I was going through. I still journal to this day.
For creative writers, it helps you to develop your storyteller’s voice. The very first audience you will ever have is yourself. It forces you to create characters – of the people you meet on a daily basis – and represent them on the lines of your journal page.
2. Create a Blog
A blog is a website or web page that you update with content on a regular basis. This is generally managed by an individual or a few persons. The content on the website is written in a relaxed or conversational style.
One of the simplest ways to grow as a writer is to start a blog.
11 Ways That Blogging Helps Writers
Blogging allows you to:
- Develop an audience
- Identify your niche
- Develop your skill as a writer
- Manage your online reputation
- Develop your skill as a researcher
- Develop expertise in your area of interest
- Boost your confidence
- Take advantage of possible opportunities
- Earn an income
- Help you network with other writers
- Market your books
People will start to take you seriously as a writer if you actually have written something and constantly prove your capability. So launch a blog. This will motivate you to maintain a writing and posting schedule as well.
There are other avenues to share your work. Why not consider participating in writing competitions or share your written work with local newspapers?
3. Stop Watching TV
I know this is a bitter pill to swallow for many people. So, if you cannot live without it completely, then watch less television. But the better strategy is to use a streaming service. Today, technology allows you to do this with ease.
We have Hulu, Netflix, Pure Flix, Amazon Prime and many other sources.
With these, you can fully control the televised content and even eliminate all commercials. Truth be told, commercials are the biggest time wasters of the entire experience.
For the better part of a decade, I did not watch television. Neither did I own a television.
My television stopped working in 2010 – may it rest in peace. Between 2010 and 2017, I wrote, edited and published over 30 books. I became a copywriter and then produced thousands of internet articles. And, I took a two-year sabbatical for afterward.
If you stopped watching television and took a break from social media, you too can become an author and a working writer.
This is the secret to mastering your craft and accomplishing your goals.
You must do away with things that waste your time and watching television is a big time waster; in this century, it is only superseded by social media.
Every time, I sat down to watch television among friends and acquaintances, my mind was busy calculating how much I could have gotten done on my books. I thought about designing book covers, editing a manuscript, finishing up a batch of articles for a client or simply drafting a new book idea.
So, I no longer took pleasure in the experience and even became more aware of how it was negatively impacting society and dictating human behavior – not just our spending habits.
People spend upwards of four or more hours a day watching television programming and wasting time.
Statistics About TV Watching
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), accounting for just over half of all leisure time, on average. The amount of time spent watching TV varied by age. Those ages 15 to 44 spent the least amount of time watching TV, averaging around 2.0 hours per day, and those ages 65 and over spent the most time watching TV, averaging over 4.0 hours per day.”
But, you know in today’s binge-watching world, we can sit down and consume streamed content from six to twelve hours on any given day. This is especially easy to do if you are watching addicting shows like Game of Thrones and Scandal.
Majority of what you watch, you will not remember next month, next year and in some cases next week! How about investing those 10 to 14 hours each week? Use them to build your legacy, develop your writing skill and execute the strategies of how to become an author and a working writer.
What Are You Doing With Your Time?
Remember the saying about there being 24 hours in the day, the same 24 hours that you have, so too did Picasso, Albert Einstein and many of the greats? Think about how they spent their seconds, minutes, hours and days.
How will you spend yours?
How do you plan to develop the discipline of writing? Leave your comments in the field below.
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About the writer:
Poetess Denise N. Fyffe is a published author of over 30 books, for more than six years and enjoys volunteering as a Counselor. She is a freelance writer for online publications such as Revealing the Christian Life, Jamaica Rose, Entertainment Trail, My Trending Stories among others.
Check out her book How to Keep Writing
This book shares key practical strategies on how to become an author and a working writer. It helps you to get over the everyday nuisances that hinder the writing process. You can follow each strategy, at your own pace until you are writing often. It is geared towards both aspiring fiction and nonfiction authors and working writers who produce content, on a daily basis.
The 21st Century Worker 