Day 3: Routines and projects

Unsurprisingly, today’s thoughts were initially spurred by Dana K. White, my new hero. In her books, she talks about the mindset required for cleaning and decluttering, and here’s the main idea: cleaning and decluttering are not projects because they will never be completed or checked off. Instead, they must be treated as a series of habits built into a routine, and then completed until I die.

Grim? Maybe. But realistic. And necessary to actually get stuff done and not have a mental breakdown when it doesn’t go away.

I’m realizing that writing has elements of that. In order to write, to be a writer, I have to write. Every day or at least in a habit that’s somewhat consistent. If I stop writing all together, I’m no longer a writer. (I’m not talking about the identity side of things, because I think there’s encouragement in the idea that I’m created with the urge to tell stories.) In the professional, practical sense, I am not a writer if I do not write. And there will never be a time when I can “get out of” writing. It will never get “done” in that sense.

But, joy of all joys, the writing process is FULL of projects, and those can actually be completed. Finish a first draft. Edit a draft. Query to x number of agents. Set up an author website. Join a writing community.

All of these things can be done and completed. Sure, some of them need to be done over and over again, like drafting, but they’re fundamentally different each time because you’re writing a new story.

Here’s the kicker: the projects don’t happen unless I’m working the routine. Writing projects don’t get done unless I write every day. Flipping that around, when I write every day, the projects will get completed.

This, in my mind, is way better than housework because a first draft stays written. The story doesn’t disappear when I begin drafting the next story, or even when I edit that first draft. I can see measurable progress and completed works coming out of my commitment to the habit, my execution of the routine.

This has been, in the gruff tone of Gandalf, “an encouraging thought” for me lately.