A Few Weird Habits That WILL Help Your Writing
Endless gurus have endless “productivity hacks” which are designed to help you shortcut your way to riches. If you type in “life hacks for writers” you’re probably going to get a billion results with stupid stuff like, “write what you feel… and buy yerba mate tea through my affiliate link because that definitely helps with writing what you feel.”
As you can probably guess, I’ve never really bought into the life hacks for writers (or anyone) selling strategy. Success at writing tends to come from a few things:
- Sitting down in your chair and writing a ton
- Writing what people want to pay money for
- Doing a good job of it.
I don’t really think that there’s much more to writing well. Those are the three key life hacks for writers. Make time for writing and do a good job of it.
However, there are things that’ll help you get better at writing. Living an interesting life. Getting a decent general knowledge. Understanding different audiences and the requirements they have.
… But again, I wouldn’t call those life hacks for writers. In fact, they’re the opposite. They’re not really a shortcut to writing success, more something you learn over hours and hours of engaging with writing.
Some of you are going to be bored stiff and wonder where this is going. I’ll get there shortly. If you want the closest things I can give you to life hacks for writers then read on. This article is about things that are unrelated to writing but seem to help it. However, before we get there, we’ve got the important life hack for writers which I’ll call “Life hack Zero” because it’s not a weird habit and it’s very much related to writing well.
Life Hack Zero For Writers: Read About Decent Writers/Don’t Re-Invent The Wheel
(See Also: Don’t Re-invent the wheel.)
If you want to be a writer, then your best bet isn’t to sit down and write without having a clue what you’re doing. Luckily, you don’t have to do this.
Most good writers have left a ton of valuable advice over the years. In fact, most great writers; Nobel Laureates, writers who’ve sold a billion copies and writers who’ve changed the world have all left memoirs, notes and how-to guides for other writers to follow in their footsteps.
A lot of these don’t even cost any money because they’re out of copyright, or people have written about their methods online. Here are some examples I’ve read (for fiction) recently that don’t cost a penny.
John Steinbeck on Keeping A Diary.
Agatha Christie’s writing Method.
H.P. Lovecraft on Writing Weird fiction.
Outside of free stuff, you can get tons of books on writing for hardly any money at all. This is true whether you’re a fiction or non-fiction writer. There’s a massive range of topics which have been covered in huge detail.
Want to write and sell simple how-to information? Learn from a guy who has made millions.
Want to learn how to write fiction? Here’s a guide that’ll mean you always have a plot.
You learn a lot about writing by standing on the shoulders of giants. This is true of the technical side to writing, but it’s also a great way to find out about other habits that writers might have used to increase their productivity. The rest of this article is a list of stuff that I’ve added to my regular habits that I believe have helped.
Go Walking
Most successful writers made a daily habit of going for a walk. I started doing this just before the New Year, and it has definitely helped with my writing.
It’s subtle, but walking for a couple of miles every day is almost a meditative practice. If you’re used to sitting in front of a screen for hours at a time, then walking will definitely help you. It gives you time to clear your thoughts, organise your brain and plan out what you need to do with your life.
I go walking in the morning. This helps me plan out my day in advance and wakes me up. Some writers go walking in the evening to clear their head after working.
Try both and see what works.
Do Some Actual Exercise and Stretching
I’m not going to pretend to be some fitness enthusiast. I don’t have big muscles and I’m not an athlete. I don’t really like exercise. It hurts. That said, now I’m no longer eighteen and able to punish my body excessively by doing stupid stuff and eating terrible food, I realise that exercise is important.
If you’re a writer, stretching is really important. I tend to enjoy bodyweight fitness more than weightlifting, so this all works out quite well.
Concentrate on fixing your posture if it’s terrible, which it will be if you sit writing for hours a day. You don’t have to become a gymnast or contortionist; just google some simple bodyweight routines and yoga exercises for beginners or something. You’ll thank me.
Stay Hydrated, Avoid Headaches and Eye-Strain
One of the biggest killers of a writer’s productivity is eye-strain and headaches. What’s terrible about the modern world is that we spend so much time in front of screens or otherwise focusing close up that we don’t even realise how strained our eyes are most of the time.
This is an added benefit to getting out and walking as well. Look into the distance. Counter-act the close up work.
In a general sense, you need to avoid headaches and eye strain. Get a jug of water and keep hydrated throughout the day. Take fifteen minute breaks every so often where you focus on distant objects.
(See also: How To Avoid Headaches)
Keep A Diary
This is weird, and I don’t really know how it works.
If you get a little page-a-day diary and write in it every night before you go to bed, your life will get better. Your writing will get better. Mine certainly did.
Like I’ve said, I’m not sure why it works, but it does. Most writers have kept diaries, hence we know about their inner-most thoughts when they write great works. You should do the same.
Extend Your General Knowledge and Be More Interesting
Most great writers tended to be pretty awesome at other stuff. There’s a Hollywood ideal of the writer as someone who is constantly drinking, rubbing shoulders with influential people and generally being an expert at everything and anything.
Needless to say, real writers aren’t quite as brilliant as their fictional counterparts. However, your writing will be greatly aided by going on the odd adventure and learning about a ton of other things outside of your writing subject.
In a world where you can get infinite knowledge for £0.01 plus Amazon’s free shipping, there’s no real reason not to amass a library of interesting knowledge.
Burner Projects/Identities
Lots of famous writers used pen names. Some great writers had whole different careers and identities that they slipped into. A lot of writers were involved in espionage at various points in their lives. Is there causation? Not sure… but there’s correlation.
I’m not saying you should join MI5, but there’s a lot to be said for creating little throwaway projects to help rustle up some interesting ideas.
Final Thoughts
A lot of “life hacks for writers ” tend to be basic knowledge repackaged – kind of like this article. I’m not going to pretend there’s any magic to it.
In fact, I’m going to do the opposite. I’m going to re-iterate that the majority of success in writing comes from following the basics, i.e. sit and write.
Any other habit that helps you will do so incrementally when compared to that one, and chances are it’ll be individual anyway. There might be things that help you that don’t help anyone else, and there might be things that help other writers that have no effect on you.
Go find what works!