Creating a Writing Habit
My nephew left town a couple days ago, I got my friend’s wedding (and associated responsibilities) under my belt and I still have some time before my first child is born (and all bets are off). It’s time to start a writing habit. Not writing for advertising, I have that habit down. Writing for film.
My goal: I decided that even more than “Write a Feature I Can Shoot”, what I really want to do is to “Create a Writing Habit”. I want this habit to be something that lasts the rest of my life, or thereabouts. This is the same way I think about my exercise habit. Over the last three years I created this exercise habit, and now I have it. I may take a month or two off here and there, but for the most part, I’m an exerciser now, and I wasn’t really before.
That’s what I want with writing, too. I’m hoping that getting a feature written that I want to shoot will follow from having a habit. We will see.
Monday is when it starts, just writing for an hour a day for this week. The thought is to start slow and build slowly. I want this to stick and I also want to give it time to have it’s own ups and downs. Here are the things that I think I need to make it work:
- A reliable way of shutting down all Internet connections especially my damn iPhone
- Other people to talk with about my writing, to get help from
- A structure, a schedule
- Room to fail, have false starts, etc.
The first thing I want to write is something in the vain of The Ice Storm. I know some things about messed up families.
