Let’s start this post with a bit of irony. Here I am, planning to write about writing consistently when this blog has been anything but. My posts were irregular in the first few months, but even when I announced my plan to commit to one post a week, I still had trouble putting out content. I suppose it’s because blogging doesn’t come naturally to me (the fact that life has a nasty habit of creeping into my schedule, such as when I had my wisdom teeth removed last week, doesn’t help matters any). However, even though I fail, I still continue to strive for consistency.

While the habits of writers are as diverse as the writers themselves, one thing that sticks out is consistency. The most successful writers plan when they are going to write, how much writing they mean to accomplish during that time, and set about doing it.

Anthony Trollope, considered one of the greatest of all Victorian English writers, dedicated himself to three hours of writing in the morning every day, setting his watch on the table beside him to keep track of the time. If he finished the manuscript for a novel before his writing time was up, he would set it aside and immediately begin working on the next book. Even if he was in the middle of a sentence when his writing time ended, Trollope would set down his pen and go to his day job as a postal worker, not returning to the pen and paper until his designated time came the next day. Through such a solid work ethic, Trollope wrote over fifty novels and non-fiction books, including his autobiography, in addition to several short stories, literary criticisms, and other works of short length.

Stephen King is another excellent example of a writer with a consistent schedule. King churns out New York Times bestsellers that you could use as a doorstop, a handy weapon against a home invader, or as a read that could require weeks of commitment–what I’m saying is, his books are looonnnggg. His longest non-Dark Towernovel, The Stand, comes in at 1,153 pages, according to a 2009 TIME feature (check the bottom of the post for the original article). How does the Master of Horror maintain such a prolific career? It’s simple; as he explains in his wonderful memoir, On Writing, King begins writing in the morning and will continue through the day until he has written at least 2,000 words. He sticks to this regimen every day of the week, allowing him to produce a first draft of 180,000 words or more in about three months. Don’t worry about the frightening length; another of King’s writing rules is to remove at least ten percent of the words from a first draft in order to produce a more concise, albeit still epic-length, novel.

Even though I may not have quite the same habits as these two authors, I can still write consistently. Every day, I should do something to improve my writing and produce something worthwhile, or at least something that has the potential to be worthwhile. I’ve been experimenting with writing at various times of the day to find out when works best for me–the jury’s still out, unfortunately–but once I find out what works for me, I’ll do my best to throw myself into it and start consistently producing manuscripts, short stories, and scripts like nobody’s business.

TIME Magazine Article Referenced Above: http://entertainment.time.com/2009/11...