Writers: Undisciplined Need Not Apply


Photo credit: Patrick Gage on Flickr
There's a funny little truth about writing that people tend to forget: namely, that no one is forcing you to write. Writers don't write because someone is holding a gun to their head demanding that they write another novel (at least, not a literal one... I hope). Even writers who write for a living have the option of not writing and getting a job doing something else, if they really wanted to quit.

By and large, however, especially for unpublished writers, we write because we want to. Because the thought of not writing is more painful than forcing ourselves to sit down and actually get words on paper. Because we are, to our very cores, writers.


Sounds great, doesn't it? We writers have the fantastic opportunity of doing something that we love whenever and wherever we want for (nearly) free, with only time constraints and life things to get in the way.


But there is a downside, namely, that no one is forcing us to write.


Allow me to explain. In a normal nine to five job, if an employee decides that they don't feel like working, or they're too tired to work, or too stressed out, or whatever it may be, most times said employee can't just decide not to work, at least, not for very long. Most bosses don't care if you had a rough night and would rather sleep in and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee or tea instead of getting up early for the job. As a contracted employee, you have to work. Period.


But when it comes to unpublished writers, that's not exactly the case. There are a million and two reasons not to write: you're too busy, too tired, too sick, too exhausted from your other job/ school/ parenting/ all of the above, or you just can't think of anything to write today. Especially when your writing isn't paying the bills, it can be difficult to find motivation to continue.


In short, writing requires a huge amount of discipline.


Writing is a choice. A passion. And it's a lot of work that often goes unrewarded and mostly unappreciated for years. This is something you have to accept when you set out to be a writer. It's an unavoidable truth, and without enough discipline, chances are you won't last.


I'm not saying that to be mean; it's just the truth. I see writers all the time who say they can't write because they've been hit with a terrible case of writer's block, or because they're not in the writing mood, or a hundred other reasons. And that's all good and well for a day, maybe two, but when you allow those excuses to accumulate, you'll soon find it's been a couple months and you haven't made any progress in your writing at all, and where has the time gone?


Discipline isn't optional for writers — it's a necessity if you hope to ever take your writing seriously. Because the only one demanding that you write is you, and if you don't keep yourself motivated, if you don't keep yourself writing, you may soon find that you've lost time you could have used to improving your craft to no one but yourself.


What do you think? Am I overstating how important discipline is for writers? How important is discipline to you?

27 comments:

  1. I think for months, years even, I had zero discipline. I had this ache to write but didn't really do anything about it.

    Finally, I decided I was going to take it seriously and write or forget it altogether and move on with my life. I was going to have a baby after all. I couldn't waste time on something I wasn't going to really commit to.

    So I decided to really become a writer.

    And here I am. I still don't have the discipline to write every single day, but I'm writing more and more each week. And I've come a long way already, having written my first novel and now working on my second.

    Discipline is definitely a huge factor in becoming a real writer, one who writes regularly and has a real chance at success. Great post.

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  2. Thank you, Yesenia! Discipline and perseverance I think are two of the most important attributes for writers, but without the former, chances are you'll never get enough experience for the latter to matter.

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  3. I agree! Discipline is essential if you want to be a writer.

    I can't even count the number of times I've felt like doing something other than writing when I had a word quota to fill. But you're right - often the pain of not writing is more intense than the pain of forcing yourself to write.

    A very inspiring post. :)

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  4. ....love this, well stated and especially good reminder for me!!

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  5. I think the single best advice to a newbie writer is to set a daily limit and stick to it. As you so correctly say, it is easy to skip a day or two and bam, it's been 3 weeks and you haven't written a word. Once that happens, you lose motivation, other ideas creep in and everything goes downhill.
    I wonder what to do when the first draft is finished since you can't do a daily word limit anymore. You could set a time limit and say "I'm going to edit for an hour every day" but it doesn't seem quite as satisfying as a word limit. I'm hoping that the excitement of actually writing 60 or 70,000 words will carry me through the editing part.

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  6. Thank you, Andy! I think we all need to be reminded how important discipline is in writing (even I need to remind myself sometimes).

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  7. I know when I edit, I usually make a checklist and say, ok, I'm going to finish x-amount of items off this checklist today or I set a deadline for finishing the checklist of editing needs. Come to think of it, I wrote a post about lists and editing a while back, actually...

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  8. "
    But there is a downside, namely, that no one is forcing us to write."


    This is exactly one of my main problems right now. I feel like, in general, there isn't enough discipline pushing me to do anything major, and work will sneak up on me and kill me one day.


    However, I'm still finding ways to improve. Once I can figure out how to revise effectively, I'll break out of it. Hopefully.

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  9. I totally agree Ava. I would classify myself as a lazy person. I love to sleep and I love my bed. And I could stay in my bed all day if someone would let me. Writing gets me out of bed. It is the only thing in my life that I am self motivated to do. I want to give that gift the respect it deserves that it why there are few excuses that I will allow to keep me from writing. What a great way to think about our craft.

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  10. Thank you. This is one of the most resonant things I've heard lately.


    My manager once told me that no one can motivate employees; they have motivation long before they are hired. Some are motivated to design databases, and some are motivated to smoke and look at television. Part of management, he said, was listening for motives, and helping people find paths through productive tasks to their desired outcomes.
    The clock finally chimes Adult O'Clock when one learns to speak both parts of that dialogue oneself. I'm still working one it.

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  11. If you're having trouble with revision, I highly recommend you try reading some writing books like Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell and The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. The former focuses solely on revision (as you probably guessed from the title) and the latter covers a larger scope of writing in general, but is, in my opinion, a fantastic read.


    I wish you the best! ^_^

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  12. Discipline is definitely something I am developing. I have my moments, but I give in to excuses possibly too much. However, it just delays me, it doesn't stop me from finishing a book.

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  13. Discipline is something I don't have unfortunately. For example, I should be studying for a Biology exam at the moment.

    But there is one thing that I love, completing a piece of writing whether it is a chapter or a novella. I just love having something done. The sense of achievement helps keep me going!

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  14. Right on target, Ava and well-stated. Thanks :)

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  15. Oooh excellent. Thanks. I think having a checklist would help.

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  16. I love that you see writing as a gift that deserves respect--I agree 100% that writing (or any passion, for that matter) is a gift that must be treasured and taken care of. Too many people take their passions and abilities for granted that most certainly deserve some love and respect.

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  17. You're very welcome, Colin. Happy to hear the post resonated with you. :)


    I think what your manager said is really interesting and definitely has a lot of truth to it. It's very near impossible to push a motivation on someone--they have to want it themselves (or else have some other motivating reason) or it just won't happen. Taking it a step further then, part of being disciplined is channeling that motivation into productivity.

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  18. I don't think discipline is necessarily a black and white thing where you're either disciplined or not--I think there's a sort of gradation, or scale that ranges between straight-out undisciplined to crazy ninja/monk discipline, and we all fall in there somewhere. :)

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  19. The sense of achievement can be a hugely motivating factor. I know because it's one that I happen to love myself. Few things feel better than knowing that you completed something through nothing but your hard work. It's a fantastic feeling.

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  20. Thank you, Gene! Hope you've been well!

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  21. I don't know if you've ever discussed this already, but one thing I thought might be interesting, is your views on when to start new stories. Such as, you are working on one novel and have anther great idea. Do you keep finishing the first one and then work on the second even if your enthusiasm dips or do you start the new one immediately and use that enthusiasm to your advantage?

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  22. Hmm, that's an interesting variation of this post. I think I've written about the Shiny New Idea syndrome, but I can't seem to find the post at the moment. That's definitely a possibility if I don't find it.

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  23. You're not overstating it at all! Not only doing people NOT hold a gun to our head to make us write, they sometimes hold a gun BECAUSE we write! But so far I'm finding the blogging thing is really helping with discipline (none more surprised than I) because there are people out there good enough to take the time to read :)

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  24. I agree that blogging definitely helps refine discipline. One of the many reasons I'm glad I started blogging is that it keeps me writing consistently--even if I don't work on my WIP, Writability still keeps me writing three times a week. :)

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  25. Unfortunately, the truth isn't always pretty. Thanks for stopping by, Marina!

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