This blog post isn’t going to give you eight different tips on how to help you elevate your writing. There is really only one word that every writer must remember: consistency.
Just the other day, I was reading about a study commonly called the “Quantity vs. Quality” study that was done by a photography professor. This professor split his class into two groups. He instructed the first group to go out and take only one perfect picture. He told the second group to go out and take as many pictures as possible.
Which group of students do you think had the better pictures? You guessed it. The second group did.
A creative writing professor could conduct a similar study with their students. The chance of having a successful piece would be extremely low if you waited to start writing for the perfect candlelit space with ambient lo-fi music in the background, a mug in hand, wrapped in a cozy blanket. A good writing professor or mentor would never in a million years tell their students to wait for the perfect moment to start writing. They would tell them to start writing immediately.
Not Consistent? Say Goodbye to Your Beloved Mr. Darcy
Jane Austen wrote on rainy days as much as she wrote on sunny days. Imagine if she had chosen to write only on the days when she felt like it. Imagine a world without Mr. Darcy!
If John Milton had decided to sit down and start writing only when it felt like the perfect moment to write, then we wouldn’t have Paradise Lost.
Ernest Hemmingway said once in an interview, “I write every morning.”
B. White believed that “a writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”
If you write every day, you will automatically increase your chances of producing substantial writing, and if you are looking to get published, those chances also go up.
Increase Your Writing Days to Improve Your Writing Material
A writing professor of my own once told me that a person typically has one good writing day for every three days. Assuming this is true for most writers, if someone only writes once per week, then they will only have one or so good writing days per month. In other words, if they only sit down to write once a week, then they only write 52 times per year. This essentially means that they would only have roughly 12 good writing days per year! However, if they increased their writing productivity to occur on a daily basis, then they would have approximately 120 good writing days per year. You can multiply your likelihood of good writing days by ten times if you just write for 30 minutes every day. Quantify your writing process so that you can increase the quality of your writing skills.
Be Consistent and Hold Yourself Accountable
Take charge of your own writing habits, and no matter how horrible your day was or how much you want to climb back into bed that morning, write! Truly ask yourself, what is more important in the long run? An extra hour of sleep? Or an extra hour of writing? You decide.
Consistency is the only answer. I have struggled in the past to create a useful and reliable writing schedule for myself, especially as a college student. What I have learned from my past failures as a writer, though, is that the more I write, the better I get. Practice hones instincts, and action always beats perfection.
Don’t wait for the perfect conditions to sit down and start writing because that day won’t come very often, and perhaps not even at all. Write when there’s a blizzard outside your window. Write when you just got dumped. Write when you’re waiting on the curb for an Uber. Write when you are confused about God. Write when you just got engaged. And perhaps most importantly, write when you don’t want to write. You discover yourself on the page, but you must first get yourself to that page, and the way you do that is by being consistent and teaching yourself to write as often as possible.
The World’s Greatest Artists Carve Masterpieces From Adversity
John Milton wrote Paradise Lost completely blind.
Vincent Van Gogh painted The Starry Night in a mental hospital.
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote The Gambler to pay off his gambling debts.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony when he was totally deaf.
Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol with no money and a starving family of six.
James Cameron wrote The Terminator when he was broke and sleeping in his car.
J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter as a single mother on welfare.
Sylvester Stallone only had $100 to his name when he wrote Rocky.
Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy after he was exiled from his own home in Florence.
Stephen King wrote Carrie in a trailer park while working as a janitor. He almost threw the manuscript away.
Great artists don’t wait for perfect conditions to start creating. These artists created masterpieces under fire. Hard times have created greatness more than easy ones ever have. Force yourself to write, especially when your back is against the wall. Fighting through the pain, rough living conditions, insecurity, and the unknown is when all the best work is created.
No more waiting—start creating.
By Bella Hunter, Inscape Staff
Header Image by cottonbro studio, pexels.com
