Effective Writing Habits - Frequency, Multiple Projects, and More - article

I don’t write every day. Some days, I get up early in the morning with an idea I’ve thought about during the night and I start writing. Before I know it, it’s evening, and the whole day has gone by. Other times, I don’t write for days. Some people are much more disciplined about writing, but I think we’re all different. Just like different study habits can be effective for different people, there are a lot of different writing habits that can work. If you watch people in a classroom, you’ll see there are people who take copious notes and people who sit back and just take it in. I’m one of those people who just takes it in.

So here’s a writing habit that works for me. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s all right; different habits work better for different people.

I think about the book I’m writing constantly. I create a playlist on my iPod with songs that remind me of different parts of the book. The playlist for Children of Abraham included “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra, because some of it took place in New York. It included “Be My Hero” by Enrique Iglesias, because there was a particular scene where that fit. I played my playlist constantly, because it inspired my creative juices. The music reminded me that I was writing a book and kept me thinking about it until I arrived at solutions to whatever narrative problems I had at the time. Even if you paint yourself into a corner, there’s always a way to get out—you just have to think about it long enough.

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  • Very interesting. I always love to write on paper all the words i wanted to put into my book, before i write it in the cumputer. I think it is a great idea. Thanks again for you great advise. It do help in writing. God bless.
  • It is so true that different people use different writing methods. Some plan their book from beginning to end before starting to write, others make a simple plot outline, while some make up the plot as they write. I'm the third type. For me, if I think of the story before writing, it's already done and I cannot write it. So I just make up the story as I go. If i don't have anything else to write, i set it aside for a while. Then, days or months later, i might open up the files and read what I'e already written and continue from where I've left off. Sometimes I finish a story in one sitting and sometimes it takes me a year to finish. I've written many short stories, including Some Mistakes are Worth Not Regretting, Short Story Collection I, and Accounting for Beginners (With Workbook) available on amazon.com and Arabic Made Easy published by AuthorHouse and available at BarnesAndNoble and Amazon.com. Writing is a passion for me. I love to write both fiction and non-fiction and have written articles on various topics including the craft of writing.
  • I Write from the heart so far. Wish I could write from the head. Also wish I could write every day. but can't. It happens when I change time ,places and subject. I have a hard time usually at the beginning of a new chapter. I just seem to run into a dry place. I am pushing so hard to finish this book by the end of the year. I also write the way I speak. My cp and I disagree often. She underlines in red, I am forever threatening to pitch her out the window! I find it helps to spend a day in the woods, thats a bit hard to do from a wheel chair.
  • I have completed my first book, and have just completed editing my second book. Both are on The Early Malay Doctors. Both are non fiction. English is my 3rd language and a bit difficult to write. So I also write down song titles and read poems by others online, and watch YuoTube for ideas. I write everyday for hours. All I do is write my ideas as they come. I have 3 more books in the pipeline but I have to wait for ideas to pen them nicely in English. I include narratives in 3 languages (as spoken passages) as I remember them. It is a good way to write to switch between many languages and keep to the song titles as guides.
  • OMGG!! The playlist part is geniusss!! Totally going to do that :') Thank you sooo much!! :D