Writing Habits Are Easy To Lose

My experience falling off the writing train at the end of 2025 Continue reading on The Writing Cooperative »
https://writingcooperative.com/writing-habits-are-easy-to-lose-8e9ebec27d5

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Why I Gave Up On Word Count Goals

But maybe you shouldn't Continue reading on The Writing Cooperative »
https://writingcooperative.com/why-i-gave-up-on-word-count-goals-9a5d7f7c5a0

#dailywritinghabit #writingprocess #writinggoals #theshortofit #writinghabit

Why I write every day

https://makertube.net/videos/watch/7c0f082e-2b7e-40fc-b9c5-880549405ceb

Losing my writing streak

I lost my streak. After 83 straight days of writing, I couldn’t find the time on Saturday 20 April.

The fact that it’s taken me nearly two months to write a piece reflecting on that speaks volumes. After losing my streak, I couldn’t carry on with the habit. Since that day, I’ve tried on several occasions to get back on the horse. Feeble attempts, really. They were all forced, in that they were the results of nagging thoughts that I felt like I had to put in writing.

By now, I know enough about myself to acknowledge that it is not the way to (re) launch a habit. I need a firm structure, a clear plan and defined measures for tracking progress. Without all of those in place, I know that I will never establish a new habit, and whatever comes with it.

There was a lot going on in the weeks leading up to the day I lost my streak. Preparing for and interviewing for new roles, a kid starting a new organised activity (with me volunteering as a coach), catching up with friends and staying out late. (Well, later than usual!) Things that made it hard to prioritise getting up at 5AM. If the last few years taught me one thing, it’s that skimping on sleep is the most reliable shortcut to getting sick. I didn’t want that. So I slept in.

For a while I was able to juggle it all and keep the streak going, despite how much more challenging it is for me to find the energy to write in the evenings. One day I couldn’t. It wasn’t even a conscious decision. It was just a day so far removed from my regular routine that, as the habit had been quietly slipping away from me, I didn’t even stop to think about writing. Not once during that entire day.

Making a habit out of writing daily and then abruptly dropping it has taught me some things.

1. Daily writing is good for my health

When I write every day, my mind feels cleaner, crisper, clearer. In the time that’s passed since I stopped writing every day, I’ve experienced more inexplicable down days. Days where I feel like there’s a cloud hanging over me, most of the time for no particular reason at all.

I can’t tell you exactly why writing every day helps with this. Most days I didn’t write about big or important things. I think it’s just clearing the space for reflection.

2. I can be a writer

To be a writer, you just have to write. Conversely, to be a writer, you actually have to write. The first is framing is a cliché. The second, my reality for a long time. But these days of writing every day were enough to prove to myself that I can be a writer.

Heck, there were moments during those 83 days where I actually felt like a writer. So now I know that I can be a writer. I just have to write.

3. I want to be a writer

I really enjoyed being a guy who writes. In addition to point one, regularly putting words to the page felt good. It was an act of creation, and even if there were no particular outcomes of note, creating something from nothing is its own reward. The process was enjoyable. I want to continue with this creative outlet in my life.

I want to be a writer.

4. I need structure, a plan, tracking… and slack

I can never relearn this lesson too many times. If I want to do something, I need to be structured in my approach. Motivation is fickle for me, it comes and goes from one moment to the next. But I know how to be structured. I’m a god damned fiend for making plans, and for seeing them through.

But one thing I forgot this time around was leeway. For resilience you a plan needs slack. I need room for taking a loss without it meaning total annihilation. Doing something every day forever is not a good plan. I need to build in breaks and breathing points to make it sustainable. It’s just how I work.

9500 days out of 10,000 is better than 83 out of 83.

And that’s it.

Now I just have to put my talent to use. Make a plan that keeps me going and is sustainable for years and years. I’ll let you know how it goes.

#WritingHabit

https://lars-christian.com/losing-my-writing-streak/

The output of my first day of trying to establish a daily writing habit.

https://lars-christian.com/day-one/

Reading Time: 4 minutesTable of Contents

During the early days of the pandemic I wrote for at least one days every day. I was blogging the pandemic experience from my point of view. More recently I have kept up another blogging streak. This time I am reaching day 274 as I write this blog post.

Developing a Writing Habit

I mention this because when Medium was first created I liked the idea of a website where we could share writing daily, but at the same time I blogged irregularly and didn't have a voice. As a result I created an account but never used it. Things have changed now. Now I have written for 274 days in a row. Writing has become part of my daily routine. I was toying between the idea of Substack and Medium but I prefer Medium for the reason that I dislike the idea of sending an e-mail that will be ignored. I subscribe to newsletters but almost never read them. Usually I go through them when working on Inbox zero. E-mails stroke the ego of the writer, but they're just noise.

No Obligation to Read

In contrast Medium posts are more volatile. They appear in our timelines but we are under no obligation to click through and read them. This is better. Most of what we write has little value but the act of writing, in and of itself has value. It is by writing that we develop the habit of thinking, not just 140 characters, or even 1000 characters, but for an ever growing stream of conscience.

Practicing with VIM

For a while I was using Day One to write my blog posts but the software kept crashing on me so I dumped it for VIM. What I like about VIM is that it's minimal. I get to practice writing Markdown whilst at the same time practicing with VIM. Vim is a powerful tool that is worth getting familiar with.

The Decline of Social Media and the Increase in Attention

As I write this I read a post about people no longer reading. I read every single day. I read both from a kindle before going to sleep, but also from Audible during my daily walks or runs. Remember that if you don't have to read in one format, you can always read with another one.

The same was said of blogging. "I don't have time to blog because I'm distracted by social media". That was true before. During the pandemic something changed. Social Media emptied of conversations and people we would desire to meet in person, either because we wanted to self-isolate, or because we grew tired of seeing others ignore COVID lockdowns. That's why I quit Facebook and Instagram. I was tired of feeling more lonely, rather than less lonely.

The Silver Lining

By becoming less sticky Social Media freed us to do other things. It freed us to study, to read, to write, and to work on projects again. For wishful thinkers the pandemic is over. For others, like me, the habits that helped me cope with solitude are still valid now. Now that I have a writing habit that is consistent, I can share blog posts, rather than tweets, toots or notes, depending on wheither you're on Twitter, Mastodon, Firefish, other Fediverse instances, Threadiverse, or other.

Online Communities

Remember, before Social Media took over online conversations we had social networks. Bloggers are part of a social network. Medium is a social Network. The Fediverse is a social network. Social networks are centered around human being communicating by electronic means. The problem with Corporate Social Media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram TikTok, Threds and others, is that they use algorithms to control the conversation, rather than chronology. Mastodon and the Fediverse are chronological social networks, like the real world. where conversations take place in real time, where algorithms don't manufacture conflict.

A Personal Blog First, Medium Second

Sharecropping between Medium and a Personal Blog is the reason for which I didn't want to post to Medium. I'd rather have my own blog, that I write for, daily, and then share on Medium. I have had my own website since 1996. I left Facebook because I felt they benefited more from me wasting my time, than I got.

User ROI

Since 2007 or so I said that Social Media companies spent so much time thinking about ROI for brands, PR firms and corporations that they forgot about ROI for the user. This is demonstrated beautifully by the Threads situation. It picked up one hundred million users within days, but lost four fifths of them within a week or two. Threads forgot about the ROI that users got out of being on their app. I loved the idea of Substack Notes until I saw that it was a popularity contest. My enthusiasm for Substack lasted for minutes.

Medium

As I mentioned above I like Medium because we can read or ignore what people write, without having to mark things as read. We can also read articles on the site or app, when we're on the app, rather than working through e-mails. I like the idea of revenue sharing but I don't like that some content is paywalled. I feel that this removes from the user experience. There are two issues with the Paywall:

• We need to pay to finish articles

• By paying to read articles our content has to have much more traffic to break even.

And Finally

Medium doesn't have to be a mirror of my blog. It can highlight the better content, the content I feel is worthy of being shared more broadly. Now i the time to start a new experiment.

#blogging #medium #writing-habit

https://blog.main-vision.com/blogging-and-medium/

Gave this piece a few updates. Haven't shared it here yet anyway.

Building A Writing Habit: Three strategies that got me writing.

#writingcommunity #writinghabit #writinggoals #writinglife #habitbuilding #writing