A few years ago there was an article posted on the internet with tips on how professional writers get disciplined to write every day. It was the obvious, eliminate distractions and write at scheduled times—just like any other employment. With a great deal of enthusiasm it stated that professional romance writers write 3,000 words a day. The truth is on a standard US page of 8.5″ x 11.5″, there are approximately 300 words of narrative in a work of fiction; dialogue is less dense. In actuality, then, that is only 10 pages. Ten pages.

After doing the math in my head, I wasn’t impressed with the article. However, it is true that to be a professional writer it takes the same discipline as being a good employee. Go to work on time whether or not you feel like going, and actually work—produce results. Serious writers are committed to the craft and never treat it like a hobby.

There are as many writing habits as there are writers. My experience is that the most common habits fall into these categories: the planner, the perfectionist, and the organic writer.

• The planner spends days, perhaps weeks, planning every detail of the story. They have written bios on the protagonist and antagonist, and some, if not all, of the secondary characters. They have extensive chapter outlines, and when they write, they stick to the script with clenched fists.
• The perfectionist writes a page or chapter and stops. They go back over each word, each line, each paragraph with a fine-tooth comb—over and over—until it is perfect in their mind.
• The organic writer sits down and writes as it comes. They learn the story and characters as later the reader will learn them. The story flows naturally. It takes discipline not to think about the story, if they are not writing right then.

Each writing style still requires knowledge of storytelling, scene and character development, dialogue writing, story arcs, basic grammar, and much more. Often when professionals have written their target word count or reached a planned stopping point for the day, they are reading about the craft or the industry.

A book that I highly recommend writers read and later review again is The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)* by Jack M. Brickham. Get your copy from your favorite bookstore.

*Cactus Rain Publishing is not compensated in any way for this book recommendation.