Week 1 Daily Card

Continue to make out your Daily Cards with the date, the time, and the things you need to remember to make writing practice happen. This week you will add an element: a ten minute warning. You can do this in several ways, so I will simply describe how I did this, and you can extrapolate from there.

First, I made a playlist on Spotify that is ten minutes long. It starts unobtrusively and builds in energy until the final minute. For the last minute, I picked a song that is a totally different character so I would know that I had one more minute to finish up what I had been doing and get to my desk. Sitting down is the hardest part about writing practice.

Second, I set an alarm on my watch that rings ten minutes before I want to be sitting at my desk. I am able to label the alarm “Start Playlist.” Don’t forget that if you are writing at different times each day, you will need to adjust the alarm accordingly.

Third, when the alarm goes off…no matter what…start the playlist. Sometimes I do not feel like I will be able to commit to sitting down, but I can start the playlist. And usually when the playlist is done, I am sitting at my desk. Cueing your mind and body that it is time to arrive at your writing desk is crucial to forming a lasting habit. Anyone can will themselves into two or three days, but if you want to return to your habit for years and decades, you will need to structure your life in such a way that the habit forms.

Fourth, sit down. Even if you can only stay for one minute. Sit down.