Daily Writing Exercise

For once, without browsing my notes for ideas, I wrote this entry. At certain days when writing feels just like another task to do, this perhaps will not be a good idea at all. I will need one or two points of interest as cues to get me rolling. Today happened to be a different case. I am writing about practices I do ( or will do ) to refine my writing.

Just like any other skill, writing takes daily practices to get you better. Similarly, you also run the risk of becoming rusty if you refrain from doing whatever necessary to sharpen your skill. For this sensible reason, I know that I need to develop a certain set of practices or exercises to do just that. I approached the problem by aiming to tackle it by two distinct aspects : quantity and quality. Personally, quantity refers to the frequency that I am willing to practice. It would be about how often do I want to practice and when. On the other hand, aiming for quality explains itself. It has a lot to do with what do I practice. It also occurs to me that they would have to be challenging enough to force me to stretch my mind and imagination so that eventually, I will be able to write in a way that I never was able before.

What then, do I practice ? Before going in that direction, let me tell you about my golden rule : Write Daily. No matter what I do or feel, I steel myself to write everyday. An essay, article, diary entry or some part of my novel, it does not really matter. I am talking about making the habit deeply ingrained in my mind that it becomes a part of me. They say that a habit will become a part of your life if you do it for 21 consecutive days. As embarassing as it may sound, I never managed to do that before. There was always something that slipped through in the fifth day or so.

Remembering that, I now make it a rule that I will write two things everyday. One creative writing ( article, essay or a piece of fiction ) and a daily entry. Yet as I write this, I have not been able to make it a personal success. I am still currently focusing to keep my daily oath. Once I passed the 21st day hallmark, I hope that the habit is safely and sufficiently planted for me to start worrying about what I write.

However, starting a new habit is never easy. It’s hard enough just to force myself to sit for a while and write, - without succumbing to ever-present temptations like FM or reading a good book ( Never for the life of me that I dreamt that reading a book could ever be a thing to avoid ! ). Not to mention the seemingly more valid reasons to stop like family errands and the kids, I sometimes struggle to do it. Here I experience the ages-old wisdom in the adage, “The surest way to do the thing you dread is to sit down and do it”. Which is what I am doing right now..Even when I don’t feel much like it