The Habit of Writing Daily

I know, I know. Honestly, I’m surprised you even clicked on the link. Daily writing? Isn’t that something only aspiring authors would do? How am I even supposed to find time to write every day?

I’ve expressed these sentiments as well. And, I would be lying if I told you that I perfectly adhere to my “daily writing” habit. But, I can say that I do believe in the power of writing daily, and when I implement the habit in my life, the benefits and blessings manifest.

I’m writing this blog in order to (hopefully) ease your mind about the practice of writing and its importance in our physical, emotional, and, yes, spiritual lives.

In my current classes, we’ve been spending a lot of time talking about writing, what it is, what it means to write well, and how to teach others to write well, too. My most important takeaway from these discussions is that good writing is about knowing your audience. Good writers are able to analyze the purpose and portrayal of their message to fit their audience’s needs. We call this practice rhetoric, and I believe it is through consistent, daily writing that we can all improve our rhetorical skills and effectively communicate.

So, what kinds of writing count as daily writing? If you really think about your day, I believe you will find that you write a lot more than you think you do! You probably get your day started (after coffee, of course) by responding to emails and text messages, scrolling and maybe posting on social media, and maybe even by having a devotional time. Each of these morning behaviors is writing!

The habit of daily writing is about increasing your awareness of the writing you already do and looking for opportunities to reflect on your experiences. Yes, we all participate in the habit of daily writing to some extent, but for the purpose of this habit, I do want us all to engage in a more reflective form of writing. My daily writing rule is that I spend at least one hour every day in reflective writing. For me, this most often means prayer journaling and freewriting. Sometimes, if I’m really feeling it, I write blogs, essays, or stories. So, let’s take a look at a few reasons why we should all write daily and how we can implement the practice.

Reasons to Write Daily

• Writing is thinking. Many people believe that they have to have an idea in order to write. They think and think and think of what to say, and when they finally have it all together, they’ll sit down and write. But, you don’t have to know what to say in order to write. Writing is a process of thinking in and of itself. When you start writing, you will engage in the thinking process. It’s common for many writers to write several hundred words before they realize, “oh hey, that’s what I was wanting to say.” Somewhere within the writing process, the writer’s true thoughts and intentions will emerge.

• Writing daily makes your writing better. One key benefit of daily writing is that you will find yourself fearing the “blank page” less and less. When you write daily, words begin to flow more easily and you will find yourself struggling to think of ideas less frequently. You will start to notice your writing patterns and adapt your syntax and command of language to better express the thoughts you have.

• Writing daily establishes your voice. The more you write the more you will notice that your writing sounds like you. This is especially true in journal writing and other forms of writing where the audience is yourself. We often unconsciously edit our writing based on how we think others will perceive it. We write how we anticipate our teachers or our bosses or our friends would expect us to. We adopt a “formal” tone of voice and make sure that we strictly adhere to the grammar rules. Sometimes we focus so much on what other people want us to say that we fail to express what is on our minds. It’s not just out tone that can cave to others’ expectations; it’s also our ideas. Writing daily, for yourself, will help you to develop a writing voice that reflects your own voice! It will give you the confidence to say what you actually think and believe.

• Writing helps you reflect on what God is doing in your life. Writing gives you a unique opportunity to record your thoughts and feelings. It’s easy for us to think, “I’ll never forget this moment!” But as time passes, we forget those feelings of peace or encouragement, and again settle into discontentment. Other times we feel stressed about a decision or a path we need to take. We have no idea which way God might be leading. In these moments, I’ve found it an incredible blessing to be able to go back and read my writing from weeks, months, and even years before. When I look at these thoughts again, I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness in my life. I’ve even been able to trace common themes or lessons that help to guide my decision-making now.

• Writing can be an act of worship. God, as Creator, has made us to be creators as well. We can honor him by writing and creating art. Many Christians use writing to express praise or to record their prayers. All writing can be an act of worship when we acknowledge the ability God has given us to create and express ourselves.

How to Implement a Daily Writing Habit

• Set aside time. One of the quickest, and yet often most difficult, things to do to create a daily writing habit is to designate time in your day for practice. I try to spend one hour each day intentionally writing (outside of the emails, text messages, and homework I do). I spend about 30 minutes each morning in my prayer journal, writing by hand. Throughout the day, I keep a Google Doc on my computer open called [Month] Daily Writing. For the entirety of the month, any time I have a thought I want to pursue or an idea that strikes me, I record it in this document. At night, I try to take another 30 or so minutes to go back on this document and flesh out any of the thoughts I had noted earlier. These notes often lead to future blogs or stories that I write on the weekends or when I have free time.

• Repetition. One way to “break in” to the daily writing habit is to start with repeating the ideas of others. If you read our What We're Reading Blog, you noticed that many of us are reading Kenneth Boa’s Handbook to Prayer. This book provides Scripture for each day for you to create a pattern of prayer. I will often copy these Scriptures down in my prayers and use them to guide my own thoughts. Another way to engage in repetition is to commonplace quotes and annotate them. For more information about commonplacing, check out this blog.

• Journaling. Writing out your prayers is another easy way to implement daily writing habits. You can also journal about your day and the thoughts and feelings you had. This is a beneficial way to reflect on the positive things occurring in your life and also process through some of the more difficult days. You can also go back through some of the important emails or text messages you sent and see if there are any moments you want to reflect on from those forms of writing.

• Freewriting. Freewriting is a technique when you “brain dump” all of your thoughts onto a page. The goal of freewriting is to write constantly and without the pressure of following conventions or grammar rules. You can free write on a certain topic or set a timer to write for a specific amount of time. During this time, focus on recording your thoughts and asking yourself questions like “what if” or “how.” Explore that thought for as long as you can and you will likely reach a point where you develop an insight. Don’t worry about staying on topic or reaching a certain number of words.

I hope that these reasons and suggestions will encourage you to connect with your thoughts and voice through daily writing practice!