Many of us get told to get into the daily habit of writing once a day every day and that’ll strength our writing. For many, our lives aren’t so rhythmic that we can hold space to do so, in other cases, even if we could write at the same time every day, we may find ourselves without inspiration. Especially with everyone’s neurodiversity and spectrum/range of creative approaches, we need to activate habits and practices for ourselves as it comes to our writing (and storytelling and crafting and painting and dancing and singing and whatever creative expression we enjoy doing).

So for me, here are 5 habits and practices I have activated over the years with my writing that I often share with others. But what are your habits and practices for your writing or creative expression?

1) Write in Community: Writing is such a solitary practice, we often aren’t taught about the value of being in community as you write. This could include meeting up with a friend to quietly write together in a café, attending generative writing workshops, joining (or even starting) a writing group, or attending an author event to be in conversation with other writers. Holding space to hear from other writers, to share with other writers, and to learn from each other is a reminder that our writing and whoever reads it links us to a community, so if you have a space you can be vulnerable, share some messy drafts, receive feedback, and growth with other writers, explore it! We aren’t meant to write alone.

2) Power of Prompts: In attending virtual writing workshops in the 2020 shutdown and continue to do so even until today, there’s a power in creating an idea from a random prompt. We might find ourselves working through writers’ block on a project we already have gone; a prompt might ignite a new story idea or a big new project or maybe just a silly, fun playful piece; a prompt birth a scene that’s never used in a piece but that allows for me to see a character more fully formed; a prompt may just be a warm-up you need to get into groove to write on your main project. In the years of responding to prompts, I’ve gone back and catalogued all those responses and have found a variety of short pieces, new ideas, and creative musings that stirred forth from nowhere and are now here on the page.

3) Reading Reflections: As I read books, I often consider how a story is delivered, the overall creative approaches explored, the narrative style, and consider the choices the author made with their craft. And though I already enjoy getting lost in a book, I will make time after finishing it to reflect on the book, both what I felt about the storytelling, but what I noticed about how the book was written. What was successful, what may have distracted me, and what may have sparked a creative intrigue for me. Some books have inspired new ideas, made me question some of my creative approaches, and illustrated techniques that allow me to explore and practice these in my own writing.

4) Bright Spots: For short stories or larger pieces, I am a sucker for outlining (my Virgo tendencies exposed), however outline can sometimes drain the creative process for me. So, to disrupt this process, I will sometimes write scenes that are very vivid in my mind—either starting with some descriptive narration, mayhaps a specific scene, could even be the ending of the piece if I know where I want it to go. I call these Bright Spots and will often help to steer the direction of my outlining and seed the scenes throughout a piece I can then string together with guidance of my outline. If the scene is already in your head, get it out and see what you can do with it.

5) Set the Tone: The environment we cultivate for writing does matter—sometimes that’s creating a writing desk space to be in. For myself, I need noise that helps to set the mood for myself and I have a full playlist of instrumental soundtracks that I listen to and align with whatever the tone I’m writing in. I may also leave my apartment and go to a particular bar or café that is aligned with what I’m crafting that cultivates the right writing energy. Our writing desk can be many places beyond where we live, but it becomes a question what environment we can sculpt to be tuned in to creative outcomes!

So those are some of mine (I’ll talk about dream journaling in another post), but what are some of your practices / habits that help you with your craft?