I want to share a simple habit I use to keep my writing on track. It’s nothing mind-boggling or revolutionary. In fact, it’s simple: I commit to writing one sentence per day.
One sentence?! That’d take forever!
It would if that were all I wrote, but it almost never works out that way, and that’s the core of the idea.
I’ve heard of other writers who make similar commitments — 500 words a day; one hour at a set time of day; a scene per day — and if that works for you, awesome! But I like my approach. In part, it’s because I’m a tour guide.
Sometimes, after a long day of riding and talking, I get home exhausted. Your job might be entirely different, but I bet it’s similar in at least one respect: some days it’s really hard to find the energy to put in more work. Five hundred words or an hour’s commitment can feel like a lot…too much.
If I set a goal and consistently fail to reach it, I’ll probably give it up as unrealistic.
But one sentence? C’mon, you can always write one sentence. I mean, OK, if your dog just died or your country is at war or something, sure…give yourself a pass. But outside of the true emergency, you can always commit to writing a single sentence.
The value of a single sentence
Even though it’s “just” one sentence, the commitment to sit down at my computer with the intention to write pushes me relentlessly forward. Because all I’m committing to is one sentence, I can promise myself that I’m good for it. One sentence. Tickety-tac, tickety-tac. Done!
But the truth is that if I sit down, I’m likely to write more. I almost never stop at one sentence. Usually it’s a paragraph, sometimes a page or more. But whatever I accomplished yesterday, today I still owe myself at least one sentence.
Thus my commitment ensures consistency; it transforms my writing from a task into a habit. It’s nothing heroic, no earth-shattering labor that I need to groan and lean into every day. Just a simple expectation that every day I’ll make at least a few words of progress.
Small steps rather than big leaps.
Exactly what counts as one sentence?
For you, I necessarily have to leave this to your discretion. But I’ll explain what counts for me.
One sentence. Every day. On the text of my novel.
I’m working on a large project, a novel specifically, likely to come in at around 120,000 words. That qualifies as a big task.
For me, the purpose of writing my one sentence a day is to make forward progress on that big task, to complete my novel. For me, therefore, one sentence a day means one sentence specifically dedicated to driving that task forward. Not a sentence I write on Facebook, not an email I dash off, not even this blog post. Also, not a sentence of backstory or research or plot structuring.
One sentence. Every day. On the text of my novel.
Hemingway ain’t the only way
That said, I don’t go in each day imagining that my sentence needs to be pulitzer-winning. It may be a terrible sentence. Likewise, it may not survive the many rounds of edits going forward. The entire scene or chapter may get cut. All I insist on is that it move me forward on the main body of my big project.
I have to be strict with myself on this, because there are so many potential distractions. “Oh, I’ll just dash off some notes about this character or that character.” “Oh, today I’ll work on my social media presence.” “I’ll write a fun short story to help flesh out world-building.” Without question, these are all useful; but to me they’re fundamentally distractions: the delicious sugary snacks that deflect from the true nourishment of completing my project.
Do you think I enjoy writing my little blog posts and avoiding getting down to work? You bet your sweet ass I do! Spilling out my so-called wisdom is way easier than fitting together the puzzle pieces of a large, complicated project.
So the focus, the discipline, needs to stay where — deep-down — I know it should be.
This works for me…
…what you need to do is find what works for you.
Every mountain is just a big pile of small rocks, every marathon a series of steps.
Maybe your single step is writing a sentence a day. Maybe it’s one of the other examples I mentioned at the start of this post. Or it’s something else entirely. The core of my recommendation is consistency: understand what it is you want to accomplish (the big task). Then promise yourself to do something easy (the daily commitment) that moves you in that direction day-after-day.
Turn your lofty desire into an unpresuming habit.
What do you think? Are there routines and habits that help you stay on-task and consistent (in writing or any other part of your life)? Share your wisdom in the comments.
I write about writing, about my home town of San Francisco, about my work-in-progress novel, about being a tour guide, and various other things which interest me.
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