How I Trick Myself Into Writing
Writing is not a habit that comes naturally to me. This post is not going to be me bragging about how I have a daily journaling habit, or how I managed to biohack myself by drinking nothing but Soylent and meditating for 8 hours before I write my blogpost. As you can see if you look at the upload history of this blog, I absolutely do not have a consistent schedule, posts just kind of come out when I think they're done. I might get an idea and crank it out in one sitting, or I might get halfway through before questioning what the fuck I'm even talking about. I have a whole post languishing in my sticky notes almost finished that I wrote the conclusion to in the bathroom at my local cafe, and there is literally one section right in the middle I need to get finished that I'm procrastinating on. I've started an essay with the same basic main thrust at least 2 or 3 times and never finished it.
All this to say, this is not me claiming to have cracked the code in any way. Writing is hard, and there's no lifehack that can make that not the case. It's not the simpler parts of writing that anyone struggles with; most writers understand how to operate a keyboard, and for the most part they have a functional grasp on the spelling and grammar of their language of choice. Once you have the words, it's easy to get them onto the page, but it's getting the words that's the hard part. That part is going to be a personal struggle that nobody else can do for you, although other people can sometimes help. Yer on yer own, pal.
My main piece of meta-advice is to try as much different writing advice as you can, and see what sticks. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that this rule or that rule is the "correct" way to write, and if you don't write according to it, you might as well not write at all. That's bullshit. Stick with what works until it doesn't work, then try something else. If fixating on metrics, quotas, and schedules doesn't make you write consistently and just makes you feel guilty for not writing, then either relax them to a standart that more accurately reflects your output, or just forget about them. It's just Bearblog, none of us are getting paid. There's no pressure. But, at the same time, if keeping to schedules does help you write more, then absolutely keep to those suckers like you're getting paid for it. It's all a matter of knowing yourself, and knowing what works for you.
Okay, onto the One Weird Trick-ish part of the blog, now that that's out of the way.
No Peeking
This method is the one I'm using to write this post right now. I use my laptop and a USB keyboard, but you can also do this with your phone if you have an adapter, or a Bluetooth keyboard. You also need to be able to touch type for this.
Take your laptop/phone screen, and point it away from you. I've got my laptop open under my bed right now as I'm writing this. Then, take your keyboard, put it in your lap, close your eyes, and start typing away. Just start rambling away, and try not tothink more than a sentence or two ahead. Focus on the rhythm and flow of your words, and just let your natural instincts take care of it.
I call this trick "No Peeking", but it's up to you how strict you want to be with it. I actyally started by popping the backspace key off of my keyboard and not letting myself do any sort of editing whatsoever until it was finished, but I found that to be a bit overkill. Backspacing isn't a huge sin if you make a typo, or if you don't really like the way a sentence is going. You can also peek if you're not sure whether you made a typo or not, or if you need to delete more than one word. For single words, I just tap backspace while mentally spelling it out in my head.
You're basically turning yourself into one of the crappy little elves that John Swartzwelder talked about, getting the rough version of your ideas onto the page so you can fix all your inevitable mistakes later, which is much easier than staring at a blank page and trying to turn it into a finished post. People don't usually get editor's block, usually what's wrong with a sentence jumps out at you immediately. Like the fact I used "usually" twice in that sentence. Easy fix. The added step of removing your gaze from the page and letting the words flwo just makes it that much easier to put the finished product out of your mind and focus on where you are right now.
I use NVim for this, but I give you permission to be normal and use a text editor you don't have to learn how to use. I just like NVim because of the emphasis on keyboard-only navigation.
I Take The Longest Walks, It Always Does Me Good
People can forget this sometimes, but there's no rule that says you have to sit down to write. You've got a little doohickey that can, amng other things, write and edit plaintext very easily, even while you're walking. Swipe typing is pretty neat.
Walking gets the mind's juices flowing like very little else. There's a bunch of studies proving that walking improves cognition, probably, but it's pretty obvious, I don't really need it proven. Going on a stroll and letting the mind wander is one of life's great pleasures. If you ever get stuck while writing something, consider just walking around and chewing on it for a little while, then jot it down on your phone when you figure out what you want to say. This is how half of my blogposts begin their life. It's also how I ended up with a thousand words of unpublishable dreck on the nature of Sonic the Hedgehog and how every character in Sonic is either Sonic himself or somehow Not Sonic in some fundamental, important way, but ehh, at least I got it out there before realizing how profoundly embarassing it would have been to publish. Plus, it was fun to write.
A Change Of Scenery
This is something I use more for general gotta-get-shit-done than just writing, like paperwork or studying, but I find it a lot easier to get something done if I go somewhere with the specific intent of getting it done. It provides that extra bit of mental separation from my usual environment, making me less likely to fall into my usual patterns of farting around and watching YouTube all day.
None of these methods are particularly revolutionary, and some of them are mutually exclusive. Please do not walk around your city with your eyes closed while you write, it is not a safe thing to do. They're also not magic. If you're dealing with a particularly pernicious case of the block, then these might not work for you. I don't have on or another that I always reach for, I use whichever one feels right for what I want to say, and the mood I'm in. You might have tricks that wouldn't work on me that work great for you, and I don't wanna denigrate the utility you get from those. I don't want to give the impression that consciously trying to build a writing habit is bad, I just think that people can sometimes let it get in the way. A low-pressure environment can be a blessing. You don't have any money to make, any mouths to feed with your posts.