Writing Habit - SOS no. 78

 

Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog

First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not.

[Octavia Butler]

One writing habit that has stuck with me and brings me back to the page day after day is notebooking. Notebooking has helped me set and keep an intentional goal of writing every day.  It helps me to slow down and process my thoughts, because I'm writing in longhand; putting pen to paper.

I will admit that some days the habit looks like writing the date and one sentence, because that is ALL I can muster.

Other days, the habit looks like pages and pages of thoughts, worries, joys, prayers, poems, blog post ideas, and whatever else my muse inspires.

There was a time when I thought of notebooking as "just notebooking". I had deemed it less valuable than some other types of writing, particularly poetry and blogging.

In my maturity, I have come to appreciate notebooking and the time and space I make for it. Notebooking has become a habit that adds significant value to my writing life in general and to my self-care efforts. 

The Front Cover of My Current Notebook

I’m joining an open community of writers over at Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog. If you write (or want to write) just for the magic of it, consider this your invitation to join us. #sosmagic