Develop Quirky Writing Habits.

So I am in the really awesome/lucky/blessed position to be teaching three different writing workshops in the next week - 1 book festival and 2 different colleges.  This makes me think I should resharpen those 'ol talking about writing abilities. If I was asked how to become a good/better writer, my gut reaction would be to say "Develop Quirky Writing Habits."  You can borrow some of mine, but really I think developing your own is more fun/sustainable/useful for a continued growing journey as a writer.  Enough blab, here's some of my favorite past and present quirky writing habits in loosely chronological order of development.

Write for Fun.
In 1st grade we had the "blizzard of '96."  My most concrete memory, even more than the giant snow hill the plows had created in our culdesac, was sitting at the kitchen table and drawing the snow.  Specifically, pictures that told stories that hadn't really happened.  I remember asking my parents how to spell a word or two and saying that "for now I'm drawing it" but I'll use words once I know how.  That's how writing stayed for me.  It was something I could do for fun.  Like all my other toys and games, often that I made from random stuff I could find, it was a way to create and explore.  Maybe that's why those two verbs drive my writing now.

If You're Writing in a Notebook, People Assume You're Taking Notes.
This is what got me through junior high.  Bored.  Angsty.  Fidgetty.  Seeking outlets.  Classes rarely challenged me, so I paid as much attention as I needed to and then would write songs and comics.  This habit became more or less not applicable after high school.  However, it taught me the calming, centering effect of writing.  It taught me the importance of doing something because you want to.  Find your way, yuh know?

Writing is Never a Procrastination.
In college there is the work you have to do and the work you want to do.  So far it seems that the first got me my grades and the latter got me to become who I am.  Sometimes the two overlapped or didn't fall neatly into those categories, but largely that was the case.

Write Everyday.
Sometime I'm following this.  Sometime I'm not.  When I do follow it I find that I'm more comfortable following where an idea might go, not stressing out about getting it right, and that my range is a little wider.  When I stop following it is when I feel everything is schlock, writing feels like a chore, and I have no time to edit or think differently about something.  Let's abridge this.  Do something fun, new, and creative everyday.  I think this is why I got back into doodling and cooking more and more since college.

Notebooks are Fun.
They are!  A bunch of writings from a time period stay together.  It feels more organic to write by hand.  While computers allow me to search by titles, especially while early on in the writing phase it is more useful to remember when I wrote something.  Also, I will look through a notebook for poems I forgot writing/didn't finish, but pretty much never look through documents that are unfamiliar.  Also, different notebook layouts encourage different writing techniques.  My latest is nearly square shaped, leading towards usage of the right side as more marginal notes/doodles, but also willingness to have longer lines again.  And there's the excitement of finishing a notebook and writing a poem in a new one.

Carry a Bunch of Pens on You.
Think I've mentioned this one before, haha.  In about 1 in 4 posts.  This is my current reigning writer quirk, but I know the rest are still with me in different ways.


Find your quirks!
-Jason