I referenced this study by Phillippa Lally and colleagues from University College London last week. While it talks about how long it takes to form a habit, there is not a lot of detail about how you can make a habit stick. Here are some common sense tips that can help however.

Context

To reinforce a habit it’s best to perform the behaviour in the same context. As the association grows it’s possible that the context itself can trigger the behaviour. Like it or not, we’re all just salivating dogs! With something as complicated as writing (as opposed to something more basic, like sleep or, I don’t know, going to the toilet or something), this is unlikely to happen, but using context can certainly smooth the way.

Here are some ways to control the context of your writing sessions:

• Same time each day
• Same location
• Listen to music (maybe even the same piece), or perhaps ensure your environment is always silent.

Reduce Distractions

As attractive as writing might be to your psyche, there are always other actions vying for your attention.

• Remove other low resistance actions. These are behaviours that are easy to fall into, like browsing the internet. Turn it off!
• Make sure you have everything you need around you (glass of water, all your writing equipment). That way you don’t have to keep getting up to see to these needs. I’d draw the line at having a bottle to pee in though.

Reduce Resistance

Now that low resistance behaviours are out of the way, you could go some steps to ensure that writing is as low resistance an activity as possible.

• Make sure your writing space is always set up, ready for work. If you feel you have to get things ready before you start, you’re less likely to want to start.
• Finish in the middle of a paragraph, or even sentence. An old trick, this. Next time you start, it feels a lot less like starting and a lot more like carrying on, which is much easier.
• Make sure other people know when you will be writing. It’s much harder to go and do something if people are expecting other things from you. You could also add this as a way of removing distractions – that “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door should be a clear message.

Of Course I’m a Hypocrite

Naturally, I do all of the things above, except for when I don’t. My writing space is always the train during the week. Granted, this takes care of context (I actually do put music on most of the time, depending on my mood and the mood of what I’m writing. Often it’s still ambient music like Treefingers by Radiohead, just to cut out other distractions).

Distractions are still a problem. I should never have installed The Binding of Isaac on my laptop. I had just bought the game and wanted to see what it was like, honest!

Since my baby boy came along I still haven’t really sorted out my writing at the weekend. The dining room table is constantly cluttered now, which means I need a better writing space, which means cleaning my “office” up on the top floor. And, well, it does rather look like a bomb’s hit it. If the explosive in question was a paper cluster bomb. Everything else kind of falls apart until that’s done.

What about you folk in internet land? What’s your experience of writing on a regular basis? Has anyone got any tips to reinforce that habit?

In other news, I’ve just seen that this is the 150th post on Getmewriting.com! Yay us!

The Perfect Recipe

What I noticed (and what was perhaps the great tragedy of the film) was that despite the heartache they went through, the three founders of Facebook had just the right mix of personalities for a successful business. The combination of genius, showmanship, and a level-headed business mind was perfect. Unfortunately the team failed to communicate and were prone to petty squabbling.

I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that Facebook would be more successful without these arguments – it’s hard to comprehend what “more successful” would even mean. But the big three could have saved themselves a lot of trauma if they had been able to recognise each others’ talents and what role they had to play. Instead, stupid emotions got in the way. At least, in the film.

The Perfect Writer?

I was thinking about this, and came to the conclusion that the perfect expression of this would be to have the best personality traits of these characters in one person. Imagine how successful that person could be!

Then I realised – that’s exactly what a successful writer needs to be! These days, more than ever before, the writer is expected to be a creative, have a business head, and a nose for good marketing. It’s no longer enough to be able to churn out words – a writer, especially in the early stages of their career is required to build a platform for themselves. So let’s take a look at those characters and just how they relate to writing.

The genius

Mark Zuckerberg, as played by Jesse Eisenberg

The genius is the dreamer – the one with the big ideas and the know-how to make them happen. In The Social Network, the genius is of course Mark Zuckerberg, who invented Facebook. But the genius doesn’t necessarily get on with people (especially in the film), preferring to lock themselves away and work on their project.

If left to their own devices a genius may move from project to project if they take too long – there are always newer, more exciting ideas. A big idea has to be worked through to completion in a fever, or must be changeable enough to hold the genius’ attention over the long term.

It’s easy to see how this pertains to writing. Ever got bored of writing a novel because you’d had a new idea that was fresh, and demanded your immediate attention? Many writers I know leave a trail of unfinished projects in their wake. Many are also shy, and prefer working on their own (which is just as well, in many ways, because a writer’s profession can be a lonely one).

The frontman

Napster didn't make a lot of money, but it made Sean Parker a lot of connections.

Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) was portrayed as bold, brash and arrogant. At first it seems like he has nothing to offer but hot air. But he’s the one that secures the company the angel investor they need to go big. He can sell, and he knows people.

A writer needs to know people. A writer needs to be able to shake people’s hands, get to know them a little, and help them out occasionally. They need to be able to talk about their book without being embarrassed about it, and they need to be able to sell it and themselves, whether this be to an agent or publisher, or to the public on their website (or the back of the book, even).

At the very least, as a writer, you need to be active on social networks and the internet in general, building up a fanbase (or at least people who know you exist, if you’ve got nothing to sell yet), and creating a place or places where people can reach you or find out about you.

Of course, on his own, the frontman is not much good. A lonely frontman has no product, and no one to promote after all.

The anchor

And finally, poor Eduardo Saverin.

The anchor is there to stop the madness. They formulate a plan and they make sure people stick to it. And they work hard. They are the reliable people. If I can screw with my metaphor to the point of confusion, they not only keep people’s feet on the ground, they also help steer the ship (metaphors in a blender, switch it on).

For a writer, this part of them is essential. It’s essential in getting things done; in making a career out of their hobby; in sticking with it when it seems most difficult. Your anchor helps you plan ahead, give yourself deadlines, put your nose to the grindstone and write every day, and stick to a project until it’s complete. It might sound like the boring role, but you need it!

To Each Their Own

People are very rarely everything they would like to be, or even everything they need to be. But at least we can be aware of it, and this should help us develop and take control of our lives and our writing.

I think I have moments when I am each of the people above, but I don’t know if I’m the right person at the right time or for long enough. I couldn’t even say that one particular part is stronger than the others, although I’m aware that my frontman persona is still a little too shy to be really useful, even though he’s come on leaps and bounds in the last two or three years.

So what personality fits you? Do you have bits of each? Is there one you have yet to master, or are you successfully harnessing the best of all three? Or maybe I’m talking rubbish! Rub your comments in my eyes, please!

So to relieve my frustration and thereby avoid prison or haemorrhage, let us take a trip in my time machine, where I can berate myself in person.

Original image courtsey of Alexey Kats.

• Youth: What the Hell? What are you doing? You some kind of pervert? Aren’t you supposed to offer me sweets first? Hey… this is one weird car.

• Wisdom: No, look at me you hormone-riddled wretch! It’s me!

• Youth: Looks like something from the eighties. Haven’t I seen this car somewhere before?

• Wisdom: Yeah, listen, you really should watch those films again. People are gonna take the piss out of you at uni when you can’t remember anything about them.

• Youth: So that’s…

• Wisdom: The Flux Capacitor.

• Youth: And it runs on radiation, right?

• Wisdom: Imagination. But that’s not important. Look me in the eye – I am you, from the future, and I bring a message!

Decide early

• Youth: Hmmm… What message?

• Wisdom: Time is running out! You need to decide what to do with yourself, and decide quickly.

• Youth: Because the world’s going to end?

• Wisdom: What? No! Well, yes eventually, I suppose, but you won’t be around to see it. I hope. Oh, unless that twenty-twelve thing comes true, but that’s probably nothing

• Youth: What?

• Wisdom: Nevermind. Look, you’ve got a few problems. One of them (which admittedly, is a nice problem to have), is that you’re good at a lot of things. Unfortunately you are not good at making decisions. And one day you’re going to have to decide between all these things you like doing and specialise. Pick something and you can start to work on being great at it.

• Youth: But I’ve already picked something.

• Wisdom: Sure. You know that I know you haven’t, right? You think you have, but you haven’t.



It's never too early to face those crossroads. Image courtesy of Mark Smallwood

• Youth: No, I have, really. It’s drama, I think.

• Wisdom: See, that’s the kind of wishy-washy thinking I’m talking about. That’s not a decision. You’re letting yourself be swept along by people calling you talented. What does “drama” mean, anyway? Are you talking about TV, theatre? And what steps are you taking towards this career?

• Youth: I dunno.

• Wisdom: Exactly. And by the way, I can tell you what you’ll pick, to save you some time, and it’s not acting. I won’t go into the reasons why, but it’s writing. It’s always been writing.

• Youth: Huh. Yeah, I do some writing.

• Wisdom: “I do some drama”, “I do some writing”. Stop dabbling, and start being! I know the careers people at the school just want you to pick some subjects, and they’d happily tell you it doesn’t matter if you don’t know what you want to be yet…

• Youth: What’s that line in that Sunscreen song? “Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I’ve met still don’t know what to do with their lives,” or something. Hey, did you know that the guy who did Strictly Ballroom -

• Wisdom: Baz Lurman. Yes I did.

• Youth: Oh yeah. Of course.

• Wisdom: Well you shouldn’t listen to what that song says. I’m not saying you can’t have fun and everything, but while you’re dithering you’re only putting off that decision. Imagine how much progress you can make if that decision’s taken early.

• Youth: Um.. Okay.

Do something that’s difficult

• Wisdom: Right, good. Next, you know those poems and one page stories you’ve written, and the few stories you’ve done for English assignments?

• Youth: They’re crap, right?

• Wisdom: No, no. They’re fine. Feel free to do more. But they’re small potatoes.

• Youth: They’re what? Are you sure you’re me? I’d never say small potatoes.

• Wisdom: Do something difficult, is what I’m trying to say. You have some ideas for novels, or other big projects, I know you do, so start them. Do something long term, that you can’t just do in a night and say you’ve “done some writing”. You’ll learn a lot more, and you’ll have something substantial to show for it.

• Youth: Do something challenging. Okay, what’s next?

Get some feedback

• Wisdom: Get people to critique your work. By all means show it to people who you think will be impressed. But make sure there are people in there who won’t be.

• Youth: Like…

• Wisdom: Anyone who is going to give you honest criticism. This might be certain friends; English teachers are a good bet; you could look for writing groups online.

• Youth: I asked an English teacher to look at my work once. She ended up making me read it to the class, like I just wanted to show off.

• Wisdom: Well, maybe don’t ask her. But there are plenty of others. Even if they don’t teach you anymore, the worst they can do is say no.

• Youth: Especially if they don’t teach me. What about, like, competitions and stuff?

• Wisdom: Yes. Enter competitions. Also, stuff. Particularly good stuff is fiction magazines. You should be able to find some horror or Sci-Fi mags you can submit to. If you get in, they’ll pay you, but you probably won’t. what you might get though, is feedback, and that’s worth it’s weight in gold.

The Take Away…

• Youth: So presumably you’re doing all this yourself in the future.

• Wisdom: Some of it.

• Youth: Why only some? Other than you’re a blatant hypocrite?

• Wisdom: Things have changed a little in the future. Plus I’ve got a job, and a website to run.

• Youth: So you want me to do all the work so you can relax and spend my fortune.

• Wisdom: Ha! No I fully expect you to still be doing hard work when you’re my age. When you’re me, even. Whatever.

  The thing is – and this is what I really want to impress on you – you will never have as much free time as you have now, and you may never have as much raw inspiration as you get now. These are things not to be wasted. I’m not saying you can’t spend time playing computer games, or worrying about why girls don’t like you (hint: it’s because you’re worrying about why girls don’t like you). You may not agree, but trust me, there’s plenty of time to really, properly get into something you love now, and still be a teenager. This is an opportunity to get so much of the ground work in – to learn so much, and to produce so much. You’ll regret it if you don’t take advantage of it.

  Now, any questions?

• Youth: Did you bring me back a hoverboard?

How to diet

First off – I have been fairly skinny all my life (my wrists are still skeletal, but if you threw a tennis ball at my belly it would now bounce off, rather than fall straight to the floor. True story (it isn’t)), so I have never been on a diet. However, I base the following on the current medical consensus, and stuff that I have heard. Which makes me right. And it’s my website, so there.

A salad. Salads depict dieting. Although this salad does look rather lovely. Image courtesy of stu_spivack over on Flickr.

Diets do not work. Or rather, diets are okay, but the vast majority of people find it impossible to take the diet they are on and make it part of an ongoing healthy lifestyle. Instead a diet is abandoned once it’s deemed a failure, or even a “success”. The dieter then returns to old habits, puts the weight back on and then takes up dieting again. This cycle persists.

So, what to do? And what has this got to do with writing? Don’t be so impatient.

I was listening to an episode of The Skeptics Guide To The Universe recently, as I regularly do. They will often talk about dieting in the context of the information available to the public, and how to approach that information(skeptically is usually the answer, as you may have guessed. But if you’ll allow me a little elaboration, the idea is to approach things with an open, yet thorough mind. Don’t take things at face value). On this particular occasion, they were talking with Jeff Ainslee about his project Fat 2 Fit Radio.

His advice matched what I have heard doctors saying to friends and family. Eat little but often – five small meals a day rather than three large ones. And eat food that is good for you, obviously. That way you’re getting the good stuff, but don’t get hungry (and therefore snacky), because you’re eating more frequently.

But here’s the interesting part (and well done for sticking with it thus far), he also said that dieters generally have their priorities all wrong. Don’t try to lose weight. No, that’s not the aim. Instead, try to live a healthy lifestyle, and the weight will take care of itself. Here’s an interesting quote:

… you look at your goal weight, and you look at that person, you figure out how that person eats and exercises, and then you start eating that right now, and then eventually you become that person [...] You start to live the lifestyle of that thinner person, and you will become that person.

Jeff Ainslee on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, Feb 9 2011 episode

See. Interesting.

Wait, I thought this was a writing website

Right, so here’s the connection. Have you ever binge-written? Throughout my writing career (and I use the term as loosely as a term can be used here), I have had periods of must-write, must-write, must-write (usually when I’ve had a new idea), followed by periods of stopping altogether, for months at a time. Doesn’t that rather sound like the dieter – bouts of dieting, followed by bouts of, er, not-dieting, followed by dissatisfaction, followed by dieting?

Now, this might not be a problem for some people. They may finish a writing project, and be happy to leave writing for a few months or a year, until they really feel the need again. But I’m willing to bet that for most people, that writing sprint does not produce a finished project, but half a project. I would also bet that the reason behind frequent binge-writing is because deep down, that person wants to be a writer. They become dissatisfied with not being a writer, do a stint of writing to make themselves feel better, don’t sustain it, and start the cycle again when dissatisfaction returns.

Become the writer

So the solution might be similar to the dieting one. Instead of worrying about how many books you haven’t published, change your lifestyle. Picture the author you want to become (the equivalent of the healthy person above). How often does that author write? How much time do they spend on it a week? How many words do they write each day? Go further – how do they fit their writing routine around their day job (many writers have them)? If they don’t have a day job, what might they do instead (book-signings, public speaking events, teaching)? How do they fit their writing around their family?

Now, I’m not going to suggest becoming that person now. I think for a lot of us, that’s a bit of a stretch. But do visualise it, write it down if it helps (it does, so do). Then you can think about gradually becoming that writer. Set yourself some goals. By the end of the year, how many words/pages do you want to be writing per day? Work this out for a few of the aspects of the writer you have imagined. Think about what you have to do to achieve those goals. By the end of the year, you will be a lot closer to becoming that writer.

See – just like dieting. I wasn’t lying was I? Please discuss away in the comments. If anyone has any tips on achieving these things, please do share, as we all need inspiration!

I needed a plan, and one of my own devising. Stage one was to generate some material, or even more basic than that, get into some kind of writing routine. Gather some of the tools to generate some material in other words.

And after two years, look how far I’ve come! Not very far at all.

The disappointing Truth

I recently looked at my writing over the past year, and realised that on average, I had written less words per week than the year before! Admittedly, the stats for the latter are incomplete, so I can’t be certain, but it’s disappointing to say the least.

What’s more, if I look at my completed projects, it gets even worse. The list is so woeful I will not go into specifics here, but suffice to say I felt ashamed.

The perilous plateau

I think the reasons for this are pretty clear – I got comfortable. It’s likely a familiar pattern to anyone trying to achieve a long term goal, and it goes something like this:

This is not a plateau. Plateus are more scary than this. You do not want to se a picture of a plateau. Instead, feast your eyes on this fantastic image is courtesy of Paul Kehrer.

1. You become dissatisfied with an aspect of your life.
2. You get serious. You write goals, you make plans and you get to work. It’s hard work, for a while.
3. Your routine is now established. You are used to it; you get comfortable. This happens without you realising and could therefore go on for ages.
4. After a while on the plateau, something causes you to slip. Your standards drop a little; you do less.
5. This causes you to suddenly take notice. It is as if you have caught a glimpse of the precipice on the other side of the plateau. Shaken, you quickly move back to step one and start the whole thing all over again.

Somewhere along the line, I had made the unconscious decision that what I was doing was enough. I lingered there for too long, and was surprised and dismayed at the results.

Slowly slowly, raisey barrey

That last title may or may not read right – you decide!

Okay, enough of the doom and gloom – this realisation is also cause for some celebration! I have been doing more writing than before I decided to get serious. More importantly, I’ve recognised that this is not enough. In other words, my head is now no longer where it was two years ago – the bar for satisfaction has been raised.

So, you could see the cycle above as going like this:

1. Raise the bar.
2. Improve.
3. Plateau (and maybe dip a little).
4. Repeat.

Here you can see a recipe for steady improvement, continually raising your threshold for satisfaction with each iteration.

It is for this reason that the plateau is so dangerous, and nit the dip. The former is insidious and stealthy, the latter is a slap in the face that forces you to improve or quit. The trick then, is to minimise the time spent plateauing. Cut the “slowly slowly” out of that near-nonsensical heading in other words.

How to do that? I’ve got the measuring bit down now, but there’s always room for improvement. Perhaps I need to separate my stats into blog time and word count, versus fiction time and word count. I also need to update the goals that I’ve written in the same spreadsheet.

The other piece of the puzzle is regular reviews. Basically, this is a structured way of paying attention. Frankly, I’m not sure how to make myself do this. I need to spend some time once a month totting up my averages for the month gone and updating my goals. But I’ve said that before…

Over to you

So tell me – I need to know – am I the only one who’s experienced this with their writing? What techniques have you come up with to help you pay attention? Is it even feasible to build up writing habits like this over time, or am I pussy-footing around, kidding myself?

Who knows? Someone knows. Tell me!

This cool writerly image provided by geishaboy500. To see the original, follow the link.

I got thinking about this due to a conversation I had at the weekend.  Despite the fact that I write (occasionally) and I have several projects all but completed (damn you endless editing process!) I still don’t feel like a writer.

Yes, ok, this may have something to do with the “not being published” thing, but that aside…  There is part of me, I guess, that still feels like writing is a part time thing, like a hobby, rather than a vocation.  I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with writing in your spare time, just because you enjoy it, and not really writing to get something published, but I’ve always felt a little more serious about my writing.  My first major idea, that I developed when I was about 12 is still on my flash drive, and I do still look over it every now and again.  When I’m in the right headspace for it.  Everything else though has taken a back seat for this serialized project I’ve been working on, and which has frankly, worn me out.

The Stigma

I have no idea why, but I still feel like there’s some kind of stigma attached to being a writer.  Almost as if it’s something to be ashamed of.  Just like every other aspect of creative profession.  I have in the past felt myself cringe when I’ve told people “Oh, I’m acting in this thing” or “I’m writing a book” and the like.  I’ve never had a problem with telling people “Oh, I’m a technician with a touring theatre company” because that’s working with equipment, it’s less namby pamby I guess, coming from one of those grim northern towns where people still remember coal mining and ship building and proper “man jobs” like that.

So why should I feel ashamed of being a writer?  Just look at who the writing world has given us.  Hemmingway, Wilde, Shakespeare, Clancy.  Granted, it’s also given us Dan Brown and the frigging Twilight Saga, which in turn has ruined poor Robert Pattinson’s life, but that’s another issue entirely.

A Full Time Thing

Maybe I don’t feel like a writer because I don’t treat it as a full time thing.  I’ve never made money from it, so I still can’t take myself seriously as a writer.  Or maybe it’s because of what I write about.  This is why I never tell people why I’m a writer.  Because it’s one of the main questions you’re asked.

“What do you write about?”

Sure, the pretentious answer is “love, loss, revenge, betrayal, all kinds of aspects of the human condition.” But I guess that’s because I don’t want to tell people I write stuff with giant space lizards and laser guns.  Because as soon as you mention the words “science” and “fiction” together, most people switch off and lose interest, because they think you’re writing star wars slash fiction.

An Underappreciated Genre

DavidTurnbull uses this image as his desktop to remind him that he IS a writer. Grab the original by following the link.

But is it so bad?  If you forget about Star Wars for a moment (which purists will tell you is science fantasy anyway), lets look at the genre.  Science Fiction has given us Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, I Am Legend, Brave New World and we cannot leave out Neuromancer.  This is what I always go to because ‘The Novel’ is cyberpunkish.  I dislike the fact that just because a book is set in the future, it is automatically classed as science fiction.  There is a wonderful book by Max Barry called Jennifer Government which yes, is set in the future, but isn’t sci-fi.  It’s satire.  And disturbingly prescient.  A lot like 1984.  It’s the kind of book you read alongside No Logo and makes you realise just how, well, that’s me getting on my soapbox.

I don’t want to feel this stigma.  Just because my serialized project is about time travel (which in this country will make 80% of people you say that to instantly think “Oh, like Doctor Who” and instantly stop taking it seriously) doesn’t mean its geeky sci-fi.  Ok, so my reading material is string theory and chaos theory, but ultimately, it’s a human story.  Which all the best science fiction is.  The titles I mentioned before, Do Androids…, I Am Legend, Brave new World, they are all, at their hearts, about the nature of humanity.

Do you get that from Dan Brown?  No. Twilight?  Please, don’t make me laugh.

Anyway, what was my point?  Am I the only writer out there who feels some degree of shame as labeling himself as such?