Writerly Habits

Habits are a tricky business. You put a whole heap of work into creating a routine, sticking diligently to it and instilling positive practices… And then you take a couple of weeks holiday— or you get caught up with work, or university, or partying, or whatever else it is you like doing with your time—and then your lovingly-cultivated habit is dead, and you have to somehow resurrect it or build a new one.

Damn.

Anyway, that’s me, right about now. I feel like I was (for the most part) tracking pretty well last year with regularly blogging, working on my novel and keeping my head above water with uni and other important life-type stuff. But it’s just so easy to tell yourself that no one will notice if you don’t post for a while, or that other things are most important right now. Definitely, in the lead up to NYE, I was completely focused on finishing the colossal effort of transcribing my manuscript from paper to digital, and everything else took a back seat. The only problem is, you invariably end up creating a new habit of avoidance as you break the old one.

So, the aim is to get back to the nitty-gritty and blog. James headed back to work this week and I’m rejuvenating the 0530 free-writing sessions while he’s at PT; I think I’m tracking alright for uni, and really, there’s no point having a blog if you’re not blogging, so it’s time to put that habit back into practice. My other decision is to be a bit smarter with time and make a concerted effort to get around to other peoples’ blogs to read what’s going on in the world and interact with the awesome community of writers at my fingertips.

Keeping it short, because I have a truckload of uni to do. Oops! Is anyone else seeking to put together new habits in the coming weeks? Let me know what you’re prioritising!

–Ana.