Heavy weightsI was at the gym on Friday afternoon, reading (in between sets) about a blogger who committed to writing 1000 words per day for 30 days as a way of getting into the habit. I thought how I had, many times, wanted to establish a similar writing habit over the years but had failed.

I’ve had spurts and long stretches of good activity. I participated in NaNoWriMo for a few years. And when I was on deadline, I could really hammer out the words. But in between books I’d stop, thus making it harder to start again. As I pondered this, I was suddenly struck with the revelation that I’d already successfully put in place a habit, just not a writing one.

The gym habit

As I’ve said, it was a Friday and I was at the gym. It was about 3pm, which is the same time I’m there most days during the week for probably the better part of the year. Apart from holidays and an odd day here and there, I’d been going to the gym 4–5 days per week.

So regular has this practice become that my weekdays now revolve around it. When asked by friends if I wanted to meet up in the afternoon, often I’d ask for a different time if it conflicted with gym time. I make appointments for early in the day, and any work I have I schedule around gym time.

Now, I’m in the enviable position of being extremely flexible with my hours. My husband is not so lucky and struggles to make the time. I fear I may too, when we return to Australia, find it difficult to keep to a strict schedule again while working full-time. But for now, I’m lucky.

I am by no means a gym junkie. I’m very far from being called a Muscle Mary (and probably never will be). And I can’t say I really enjoy going to the gym. I don’t get a massive rush from lifting (slightly) heavy things. The best I get is a little glow that I’ve kept this commitment – and glad to not have to feel guilty for not having done some exercise.

Why do this painful thing?

So what do I get from it, and why haven’t I embraced a writing habit with such fervor? I don’t really have an answer. Perhaps it’s because I get to see a bit more improvement in my fitness/physique than I think I’ll get from writing every day (which I know to be incorrect).

Could it be the social aspect? Not that I talk to people at the gym but seeing more well-built bodies than mine is a motivation of sorts. It’s also a reward. I get to perv on guys while working out at the same time. I don’t quite get that with writing by myself.

Perhaps lifting weights is a much easier task than writing and the two aren’t really the same. One is (largely) physical, the other (largely) creative/mental. One is structured and I follow a plan and steps, the other is all on me. Yet an examination of these assumptions shows they’re not correct.

Yes, working out is a physical activity that follows a plan, but it’s also a mental commitment. It requires mental energy to go down the road to the gym, to pick up the weight, to complete reps and sets. It’s a head-game, just like writing is. And just because writing is mental, doesn’t mean there’s not some structure involved. In fact, it would benefit greatly if there were structure.

They both require a commitment. So why is one easier to commit to than the other? I think it’s that there’s more to lose with writing. If I don’t end up a beefcake, it’s no big deal as long as I stay in good health. If I write badly, then there are greater repercussions.

But really, what’s more important than health? And to write is easy. Writing well is somewhat harder but like muscles, it takes practice and repetition. So, with that in mind, I’m going to start (yes, again) this repetitive writing habit. In fact, I started by writing this article.

My new habit

My aim is a minimum of 500 words per day every day for 30 days. I’m going to keep it easy to start off with so it can be a blog post, a story idea, a scene, some notes. The only thing I’m excluding is paid work for other people, which I do from time to time.

Now is not the best time to be doing this. I have a bunch of writing jobs on at the moment, a holiday booked and promotion for my upcoming book to do. But, the thing is, there is never a good time. There’s always going to be some (seemingly good) reason to put it off ‘til later. But that’s just not going to fly. I either want to do be a writer or I don’t. And I do so that’s the end of it.

So, have I kept to my 500 words a day since having this little revelation on Friday?

Short answer, yes.

Friday, I wrote more than 500 words (nearly 1000) for this post. Saturday, despite spending the day skiing, I managed more than 1600 words for blog posts. Sunday, a hard one, but I wrote 500 words – and the best part was it was for my new book. And on Monday another 500 words for the new book. That’s 4/30 already done, nearly a sixth of the way through. I can do this.

And it’s a lot easier than lifting weights.