Make writing the best part of your day, and you’ll write every day.
Many writers talk about the importance of having a routine. We speculate amongst ourselves, trying to concoct the perfect potion for productivity. Some suggest writing at sunrise, others swear by the quiet spaces between the stars. Some propose a preparatory run in nature, others use Pavlov’s technique to associate it with daily delights such as coffee or chocolate.
I am not in violent opposition to establishing a writing routine. However, there’s one thing I can’t help but note about it. Writing is art. Art is forged in the joyful fires of creative wanderlust. It is born of imaginative freedom and boundless curiosity. It manifests on paper when the colors accumulate, overflow, and pour from our skulls in a deluge of words. Art, in nature, is wild. Routines seek to tame it. Artists, in nature, are wild. Regulations place us in a cage.
Still, professional writers must commit to writing. When it evolves from a hobby to a career, it comes with a certain level of responsibility. How do I tackle that responsibility without target word counts, hourly schedules, or any semblance of order? How do I find myself writing thousands of words daily without tangible goals or incentives?
Well, I’m addicted to it. I’m addicted to it because I’ve made it the best part of my day.
First, I Let My Imagination Breathe
One of the biggest hinderances to creativity in the modern era is the Internet. This is tragically ironic, because the Internet also gives us access to endless possibilities for inspiration. Social media platforms connect artists across the world, setting the perfect stage for community and collaboration. Still, I cannot deny that the Internet has affected my creativity in a profoundly negative way.
When I wasn’t engaging with it as often, I trusted the mysterious machinations of my mind. I trusted the images, sounds, and sensations that lived there. Without a Pinterest board filled with visual aids or a strategically organized Spotify playlist, I was left with a black canvas, a tube of white paint, and a single paint brush. It was up to me and me alone to see, hear, and feel the incorporeal elements of the story, and to bring them into the tangible world.
Writing wasn’t about telling the reader about a cookie-cutter creepy forest, expecting them to take a scroll through Google Images for details. It was about transporting them into my forest, the one only I could see. The method by which I did so established my own unique style of conveying imagery. The techniques I used helped me to find my individual voice.
I feel like the Internet has blinded us by providing unlimited sight. It’s made the power of imagination functionally obsolete. We no longer need to use our minds to conjure the images, sounds, songs, and so on that make up a story. All of those precious things are a few deceptively satisfying clicks away. Our brains have no time or space to think up the details anymore.
When I started trusting the Internet more than my own dark portal to the unknown, I stopped writing as often. Frankly, it wasn’t as exciting anymore, because I didn’t have new frontiers to explore and explain to others. If left to my own devices, I feared I’d only come up with regurgitated mediocrity, or worse, absolutely nothing.
The first step in establishing a flourishing, addictive writing practice was giving my imagination time to breathe and space to grow. I could no longer use Pinterest, Instagram, Google, and Spotify as inspirational crutches. I challenged myself to brave the darkness, to bring forth images I alone could see and stories from worlds I alone have visited. Nothing available online would do them justice, therefore, I’d have to.
I allowed myself to dwell inside a blissful void, trusting with my whole heart that stories would manifest there. Leaving behind the fear of nothingness, I knew light, color, and life would inevitably fill it with fireworks.
I Learned To Feel Safe With Boredom
Nowadays, we are all lost in a whirlwind of overstimulation. Our minds are packed with distractions, voices that aren’t our own. If it isn’t a new Netflix series, it’s a new YouTube video. If it isn’t a ten hour doom scroll through Instagram, it’s a research rabbit hole through Google. There is so much of everything bombarding us all of the time. We are lucky to get a moment to look at the sky, let alone write entire stories.
What do all of these platforms have in common? They are addictive. They are designed by programmers and with psychologists to hack the human psyche. Bright colors draw the eye, overlapping sounds shorten the attention span, and the illusion of constant novel content tricks us into thinking scrolling is productive.
YouTube, audiobooks, TV shows, and movies also simulate first person interactions and adventures. It is an illusion. They are not real experiences, and they do not supplement for real experiences. Content creators aren’t even real people in the format through which they are consumed. They are shadows of real people, wraiths caught in a time loop, mirages of companionship. In a lonely world, these mirages are terribly tempting.
Ever since media evolved into a digital drug, boredom has felt uncomfortable and dangerous to me. Sitting with my thoughts is like being dropped in the Sahara without an extraction plan or stranded in the Pacific Ocean with only a rowboat and a notebook at my disposal. Alone, drowned in quiet, abandoned to fend for myself. Withdrawals set in, and before I know it, I’m desperate for a hit of blue light.
In order to set my imagination free, I needed silence. I needed sacred aloneness. I needed to be safely, securely, and readily bored. Believe it or not, boredom acted as a gateway. It is an invitation for me to entertain myself, to tell myself stories, and to create. Working in tandem with the previous point, boredom gave my mind breathing room.
Without the influence of social media, streaming services, and the artistic endeavors of others, I became more authentic and less self-critical. In the process of discovering my own unique identity, I found myself falling in love with it, too. When I stopped comparing myself to others, I became laser-focused on my own journey, grateful for every twist and turn. In truth, I was surprised by how much self-appreciation had been buried beneath the doubt programmed into me by outside sources.
Boredom, quiet, and sacred aloneness aren’t just the keys to constant creativity. They are also the keys to radical self-acceptance, and beyond that, self-love. Boredom is a safe, stable swath of grass in which flowers can bloom. When I water those flowers with praise, excitement, and love, they grow rapidly. When I trim them mindfully, kindly, and with gratitude, they do not shrivel. They reach for the horizon.
I Use Addicting Behaviors To My Advantage
Social media developers aren’t the only ones who know how to hack the human psyche. With a little research and a bit of trial and error, I was able to do the same. Remember how I mentioned the Pavlovian technique? Believe it or not, it works. There are so many ways to take the neural reigns and steer your mind in a more beneficial direction. Here’s a few that helped me.
Pavlov’s Technique: Every time I sit down to write, I make sure to have an Earl Gray tea and a piece of dark chocolate at my side. This pairing stimulates the release of serotonin and dopamine in my brain, and that release happens in tandem with writing. The human brain is extraordinary, but it’s also a pleasure and safety seeking machine. Serotonin and dopamine signal pleasure and safety. Through the power of association and simple chemistry, I’ve convinced myself that writing is pleasure and safety.
Habit Stacking: We all have habits, little behaviors we engage with every day with little to no conscious thought. For some, it’s a morning stroll. For others, it’s a bowl of fruity cereal and a glance through the news. Habit stacking involves wedging a new habit directly before, directly after, or right in between old ones. This will convince your mind that the new habit is just as natural as the established habit/s. Bonus points if the natural habits are also naturally enjoyable habits. Use the power of association to your advantage!
Color Swapping: Social media uses a lot of cheap tricks to keep us lost in their content loops. Why not use these tricks to our advantage? Note how all social media apps prioritize bright, attention-grabbing colors. These colors stimulate our senses and keep us engaged. Don’t commit to writing in black and white. Change the page and text colors. Trust me, a pink screen with purple letters or a yellow screen with turquoise letters is a lot more fun. Don’t forget to experiment with different fonts, too!
Video Game Music: This is one of my favorites. Video game music is designed to keep players engrossed, engaged, and excited. They hinge on the caliber to which users are immersed in the quest, mission, or challenge. Whenever I’m writing, I cue up video game music (or cinematic scoring) that pairs well with the genre. If I can’t settle on a specific track, anything from the Super Mario franchise does the trick.
Shiny, New Content: Taking another page out of social media’s book of human mind enslavement, I’ve programmed myself to view writing in the same way I view watching things. It’s not work. It’s entertainment. I’m entertaining myself, playing on the pages, and the act of writing it down serves as an autosave or a DVR recording. You’d be surprised how long my writing sessions last when I equate them to binging a series, desperate for just one more episode.
When All Else Fails, I Lean Into Chaos
When in doubt, I’ve come to trust the blissful chaos that led me through the world when I was a child. Caging myself in with “stories I must write” and “rules I must follow” has only made writing daunting and scary. As I said before, we might be highly-intelligent creatures, but we are still human, and humans run from scary things. By leaning into childlike chaos, I’ve made writing a safe place again. Therefore, it is a safe place I am ever-eager to return to.
No YouTube video, Hollywood movie, or Netflix series can satisfy me like the musings of my own mind. No mundane activity can compare to the bottomless freedom found in my imagination. Naturally, I am always ready to dive back into it, and to explore with reckless abandon.
I write every day because writing is my favorite thing to do. I can’t help but crave it daily, because it is a reliable source of fun, freedom, and authenticity. With boredom on my side, it supplies an endless stream of entertainment fitted perfectly to my passions and preferences. With chaos on my side, it is one of the few places in my adult life where I can be truly wild.
Boredom sets the stage. Self-love fosters safety. Mind tricks keep me hooked. Chaos keeps things exciting. Now, I don’t just love my writing practice, I am completely addicted to it.
Thank you so much for reading. I truly hope this piece inspires all who read it to help their flowers of creativity bloom! Don’t fear the silence, writing friends. In that silence, you will find stories. Don’t forget the dark chocolate, writing friends. In the dark chocolate, you will find rich, sweet, serotonin-boosting goodness. ♡
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