How to build your writing muscle
Since I started The Data Daily I've written 210 days (nearly every Mon-Fri since May). People have asked me how I keep going or if I will stop sometime.
I have no plans to stop.
Here’s how I keep going.
And four core steps so you can develop your own writing muscle.
1. Idea Capture
The biggest fear people have when thinking about writing is not knowing what to write about. It’s a false fear. You have so many ideas – you just don’t capture them. Any idea you had earlier in the week, earlier in the day, or even a few minutes ago will evaporate when you stare at a blank page.
You have to have a low friction and extremely easy method for capturing ideas. For me, that looks like two key things: A Notion doc called “The Data Daily – Ideas” and a paper journal. When I’m at my computer, ideas go into the Notion doc. But ideas hit me all the time away from my desk (in the shower, mowing the lawn, playing Lego, etc). So my journal (much to my wife’s annoyance) floats around the house so it’s available quickly to jot something down.
Ideas are simple – One or two sentences.
2. Set a timer
Writing is hard. Like exercise, it requires work and it’s exhausting. Just like you wouldn’t set out for a two-hour run on your first day of marathon training, don’t sit down to write for a couple hours.
Set a timer. Start with 10 minutes. Pick up a topic from your idea list. Write until the time goes off. Then stop.
It doesn’t matter if you are done with the idea. The timer says you are done so stop.
After a couple of weeks, you can up the time to 15 minutes.
3. Regular Practice
Consistency is more important than length of time. Starting with a short amount of time will make it easier for you to fit it into your schedule at an ideal time for you. For me, writing has to be the first thing in my work day. Starting at 8 am, I sit down and start writing. If I skip that time window, it’s 50/50 whether I will get any writing down that day at all.
I’ll make it easy for you. Block out 8:00-8:10 am (or whenever you start your work day) every Mon, Wed and Fri. Don’t look at email. Don’t check social media. Don’t look at your phone. Set your time and begin.
4. Publish
Writing is fundamentally about helping me clarify my thinking. But, the only way to get better at writing and thinking is to publish. This is the scary part. Put my words in front of other people, let them respond, ask questions, express confusion, or feel excitement.
Find a place to publish. You may not want to publish right away. That’s fine. Take a week or two of writing with publishing. But then you get your words away from your computer and in front of a reader.
There are so many ways to publish. Social media, blogs, newsletters, or emails, and several platforms are available for each of those. The style, length, and cadence of your publishing can vary a lot based on your platform.
Don’t overthink it. Don’t procrastinate coming up with a catchy name for your blog or exactly which platform to publish your newsletter on. Pick one. And publish. Publishing is the hard part. Picking a name, platform, or format is just noise right now.
And when you start publishing, hit reply and tell me about it. I'd love to follow along.
I’m here,
Sawyer
from The Data Shop
