The One Question That Will Change Your Writing

Some of us write only when inspired. Others have a daily appointment with their keyboard. I always wonder why some create all the time and others do not. Creative habits have been a source of fascination for me ever since I began creating. My biggest question always being: How do we make time to follow a dream and commit to our craft even when we have so many emails to answer, full time jobs to work, and (for some) children to raise? 

Because of this fascination I have been reading about habits all of my life. Especially creative habits. What does it take to make a habit? Keep a habit? Benefit from a habit?

How can habits change my writing?

Every January I reread James Clear’s Atomic Habis: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. This has been one of the most significant life changing books that took the mystery habits and how (when followed) they help me be a better person and poet I want to be. 

In the book James Clear talks about linking the result you want with your identity. For example: if you wanna lose weight, ask what would a healthy person do? If you want to be a writer, ask: What would a writer do? For me the answer is pretty simple, they would write. This question is my mantra: I carry this mantra on vacation, in check out lines, through the darkness when I write before sunrise. It is the number one guiding principle that has transformed the amount of writing I do, which has had a direct effect on the quality of my writing. 

Lately, maybe it is getting older, maybe it is being a parent, I have felt the need to increase and protect my writing time. A few months ago I began seeking advice from some of the most incredible writers and poets I knew. I received all sorts of golden nuggets. I thought about how my life was structured. I even changed the wallpaper on my phone to say: Decide what kind of life you really want… then say no to everything that isn’t that. But it wasn’t until I read Ada Limon’s Facebook post— who had just been named Poet Laureate of the United States— that it all clicked. In the post, she wrote about sounding desperate in her fellowship application. She was, she said. She was desperate for time to write. She then made a decision to change her life. She quit her full time job and became a freelancer to have the writing time she needed. 

Now of course some people can’t all quit their full time job. But they can rearrange their schedule to support writing time. They can watch one episode of Schitt’s Creek or meet a friend to submit. I have just taken a huge leap of faith stepping down from an inspiring but fast-paced position to become a consultant. This will give me twice as much to write because I am a writer and that’s what a writer would do. 

Of course, we all need to do what works best for us. Either way, the question will still help you reframe your commitment. Simple ask:What would a writer do and then do it in the capacity your life allows. Watch your craft, career and view of yourself (the world) change. 

KELLY GRACE THOMAS is an ocean-obsessed Aries from Jersey. She is a poet, editor, educator and author. Kelly teaches one-day and month-long poetry online workshops to poets all over the world. Kelly is the winner of the 2020 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and 2017 Neil Postman Award for Metaphor from Rattle, Her first full-length collection, Boat Burned, released with YesYes Books in January 2020. Kelly’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in: Best New Poets 2019, Los Angeles Review, Redivider, Muzzle, Sixth Finch and more. Kelly is the Director of Education for Get Lit and the co-author of Words Ignite. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, sister and daughter. www.kellygracethomas.com