Becoming a better writer is something that takes time and practice like any other skill. For those who are serious about being better writers I have lain out a program for them to follow here but first a little about why I am qualified to aid you in this matter. I have been writing for about three years consistently now. It started out with random fiction short stories for the hell of it and over time morphed into full length novels, erotica, men’s self-improvement, and copywriting. Throughout the process there was one thing that stood out to me as a key for good writing and that is daily writing.
When someone is a pro at what they do, they participate in it at some point every day. It is on their mind everyday and they do something everyday to practice and perfect their craft. Writing is something that you only get better at by doing. Sort of like fighting, theory is great and all but eventually you have to get in the ring and put it to the test. It’s the same with writing. You have to actually put words on paper on a consistent basis to get the results that you want from writing. In addition all great writers are prolific writers.
The Importance Of Daily Writing
To be a good writer, writing must become a habit. Not something you do every now and then. Not something you do when you feel like it. Not something do when inspiration strikes but something that you do day in and day out. You must do it when you don’t feel like it. You must do it when you feel like every word you write is crap. You must do it when literally the last thing on your mind is writing. No one said it was going to be easy.
You have to take a workmanlike stance to become a good writer. Treat it like a business and not a hobby. Every day you have to be at your keyboard or with a notepad pecking or writing away. Now you don’t have to be writing the same thing everyday. Maybe one day you write on a sales letter, the next for your fiction books, and then the next on your men’s self-improvement blog. Some semblance of consistency is needed but it doesn’t have to be the same thing day in and day out.
Have A Daily Word Goal
Goals help with so much. They give our mind a direction to focus it’s vast energy. They help to channel us and bring us one step closer to the ultimate life that we want. They guide and direct us. Like the rudder of a ship. You should have a goal to write X number of words a day. That number is going to vary depending on how advanced you are. For starters I would recommend five hundreds words a day. If you think that sounds like a lot then good writing isn’t something you will be accomplishing anytime soon.
When I first started I shot for one thousand words a day. At first it was a struggle to keep up with and I often has to wrack my brain or write on two different things (which is fine) to hit my daily word count. However now I can write two to three thousand words a day and I don’t even think about it. It is something that I could do in my sleep. This stems from making myself write those one thousand words everyday those couple of years ago.
It was like when I first started reading. I pledged to read at least one new book a month. Which morphed into three new books a month. Which morphed into a book a week. Which morphed into now I typically read two books a week depending on their size and complexity. And the thing is I do this without effort. It has become a part of me because I set out the time to do so.
The Consistency Mindset
Not everything you write is going to be gold. Not everything Shakespeare wrote was gold. Rather the goal is to be a prolific writer in which your natural talent and genius when you develop it will shine. Being a prolific writer is a mindset. It is something that you simply decide to do. Then do it. Eventually it becomes a part of you and you don’t even think about it anymore because it has become a habit. When you hit this stage you can add in even more work.
If you find yourself struggling to hit your word count read this article on writer’s block and you’ll never struggle with that again. Daily writing is a habit as is reading. Once you get the ball rolling it will naturally pick up speed as it goes down hill until you don’t even have to worry about it. Just maintain momentum which is much easier than building it in the first place. Like starting a business at first you put way more effort into it than you get out of it but there comes a point when that switches and it grows on its own. You just have to keep the momentum going because you already started it.
Summary
Being a good writer is the result of being a prolific writer and being a prolific writer is the result of sitting down and putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard day in and day out. Consistency is the secret to success in anything. Do something enough and you’ll start to adapt to it. Hit the gym enough and your body naturally adapts, write copy enough and your mind starts to recognize patterns it didn’t before. Write everyday and you will improve everyday even if you don’t necessarily think you are.
Keep at it. Start out with five hundred words a day do that for a three month stint and then increase it to seven hundred and fifty words. After three months doing that increase it to one thousand. I wouldn’t increase it much past there except perhaps for limited quantities of time. If you want to be a good writer this is an essential step in the process. One that cannot be avoided or neglected. So get your butt in a chair sit down and start writing.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
