Change One Habit, and Succeed at Writing
‘Oh, if only I had the discipline to keep writing.’
‘My lack of discipline stops me from being successful.’
‘I’ve got the best intentions and great ideas, but can’t muster the discipline.’
Yes, discipline gets all the credit.
But discipline is overrated.
What finishes novels isn’t discipline.
What gets the job done is a handful of easy-to-use techniques – tricks to make starting easier.
Your hard drive or folder probably already has what you need.
A folder of brilliant beginnings.
Three great dialogue exchanges.
Notes on your astounding characters.
A superb prologue, and a magic system you spent a week perfecting.
There’s just one thing standing between you and a finished masterpiece.
And that thing isn’t discipline.
It isn’t inspiration.
It’s habit.
And here’s the advice most writing courses miss: there’s more than one way to build that habit.
We’re all different, so what works for your friend might not suit you. Try stuff out and steal the technique that works best.
1. The Streak
Pick a daily target – a set amount of words. A 500-word target works well for me, but you may want a different goal.
Your target should challenge you each day without bringing on a heart attack. A bit like physical exercise; the best results come when you do enough to raise a sweat without making you sick.
Write your chosen word count target on a wall calendar.
Write that many words today.
Write the same number tomorrow, and the next day, and keep going.
Soon you’ll have a run of crosses on your calendar – a run stretching back days, then weeks, and soon months.
And if you’re like me, you won’t want to break your run.
Jerry Seinfeld once told an aspiring comic to write a joke every single day.
This is the same idea.
And this idea works.
The lever here is measurement. Your chain turns a vague ambition into something clear, and something you can measure.
Who this works for
Are you competitive? Do you enjoy data? Do you like progress charts and scoreboards?
Your brain may happily write a thousand words for you just to keep your row of crosses intact.
One word of caution. Streaks reward turning up, not quality. Some days you’ll write any old thing just to keep your streak alive.
That might not be a problem. You can improve bad writing later, but no one can edit a blank page.
2. The Pact
Most of us work hard for ourselves. But we work even harder for others.
So don’t write alone.
Join a group of other writers and form a writing sprint. The group sets a timer, and everyone starts hammering at their keyboards.
This can work well online.
Or you can find an accountability partner and tell them how many words you wrote that day.
This technique powered NaNoWriMo for over 20 years. Hundreds of thousands of writers sweated to bash out 50,000 words during November (a punishing 1,667 words a day).
NaNoWriMo closed in 2025, but now there’s Novel November.
You’ll find lots of local and online groups running the same type of scheme.
People often let themselves down, but they can hesitate before letting others down. And that’s the lever here.
Who this works for
Are you an extrovert? Are you motivated by others? Do deadlines get you moving? Does solitude see you drifting?
If so, think about a pact. Relationships with others can fuel your writing habits. You’ll find welcoming writing communities online, and you may develop some excellent friendships.
3. Follow the Fun
Start a new manuscript.
Write ‘Chapter 1’ at the top.
And somehow the rest of that page can be blanker than normal.
Aggressively blank.
Having to start can be intimidating. Even threatening.
But I’ve looked for laws which say you have to start writing your novel at Chapter 1. And I’ve found nothing.
So, begin where the excitement starts.
Sketch out your fabulous magical system.
Draw your map.
Flesh out the backstory for your diabolical villain.
Draft the one scene that’s lived in your head for weeks. Even if that scene is at your novel’s end.
You’re free to chase those parts of a book that’ll excite you the most.
The novelist Brandon Sanderson talks about chasing the scenes that excite you. Writing those scenes will give you energy and can pull the rest of your novel into existence.
Joy succeeds when willpower and discipline fail.
Here the lever isn’t grit. It’s pleasure.
You’re not forcing yourself to write. You’re following the parts of your novel you always wanted to breathe life into.
Who this works for
Are you prone to daydreams?
Do you ‘think with your hands’ – that’s when you write your story down to find out what happens?
Do you have a vivid world living in your mind, and do you worry it’ll feel flat when you set it on the page?
Write about what you believe to be the most appealing aspect of your world. The momentum you earn there can bring the rest of your story to life.
One word of caution. World-building can be a comfortable activity and a way to avoid actual writing. Follow the fun into the story, and not away from it.
4. The Tiny Start
Life can be overwhelming.
You had a bad day at work. You scraped your car on your commute home. Your cat was sick on your sofa, and your TV doesn’t work.
So, can you really face doing your word count tonight?
Just for a moment, don’t worry about that word count.
Open your notebook and write one sentence.
Just one.
That’s your entire task for tonight.
You’re allowed to stop afterwards.
But here’s the point: you’ll almost never stop afterwards.
Starting is the hardest part. Like stepping into a cold shower. Once you’re in, it’s easy to carry on.
BJ Fogg outlined this in his book, Tiny Habits. Make your first action tiny, and you won’t feel any resistance.
And an action you can do easily is one you can repeat.
This lever is about removing dread. Writing a single sentence is nothing to fear. And nor is the second sentence, or the third…
Who this works for
This is for the perfectionist and the anxiety-prone. If your task feels overwhelming, take one step in the right direction.
Lower the bar until you can step over it.
And keep going.
5. The Ritual
Don’t rely on discipline.
Create a trigger instead.
Pull up your favourite writing chair. Brew a mug of tea. Put on your preferred music, or light a candle.
Repeat this sequence each time you start. After a few weeks, this cue will summon your urge to write. Your kettle boils, and your fingers stretch out for the keyboard.
Charles Duhigg lays this out in The Power of Habit.
A loop is formed. There’s a cue, which leads to a routine, and a reward.
Find a consistent cue and work out a suitable reward for yourself. The middle routine – your writing – will slot itself into place.
I also found it handy to start writing at a particular time. For the first draft of Lightmaker, I started around 7 p.m. each evening.
After a few weeks of starting at 7 p.m. I felt a real urge to write when that time rolled around.
Your lever here is consistency. You’re not deciding to write each day. Writing is what happens when you pull the trigger.
You can reinforce this trigger by pulling it at a set time each day.
Who this works for
The routine lover. The writer who thrives on regularity and hates making decisions each day.
Set this loop once, and it’ll carry you forward.
Pick one way and start tonight
Not all of these techniques will work for you. Find one that does.
The competitive writer keeps a streak.
The sociable one makes a pact.
The dreamer follows the fun.
The perfectionist seeks the tiny start.
The creature of habit builds a ritual.
Combine these techniques as you like.
Can you build a ritual and turn it into a streak? Can you agree with a friend that you’ll both write at least one new sentence each day?
Remember where we started.
Your folder of brilliant beginnings can turn into a full novel.
And you can write wonderful passages without waiting for a bolt of inspiration.
You just need to use a technique.
Something to make starting easier than not starting.
So pick your technique.
Open your work file and write one sentence. And see what happens next.
Trust the tools, and keep building.
Kevin Elliott
www.writerssecrettoolkit.com
