The Writing Life: The Importance of Systems and Habits

As a writer and editor, I'm involved in a number of different projects each week. Many of these tasks are routine and something I do over and over. For example using Hootsuite, I post on social media 12–15 times each day. I write and each week I post an article for The Writing Life. I read books and write book reviews. I speak with authors about their submissions to Morgan James and many other tasks.

One of the ways these various projects get done is tied to my habits and various systems that I've created. Do you have such patterns in your own writing life? I encourage you to create habits and systems using tools to be consistent. I've written in these articles about the importance of being consistent. How does consistency happen? From my experience, one of the key ingredients is to develop a habit or system.

Here's a few of the habits and systems I've created in my writing life:

--I consistently read books and after reading the book, I write a short review and post it on Amazon and Goodreads.

--Also I am consistently listening to audiobooks, writing a review and posting it. Each of these actions are intentional.

--Regularly calling people or emailing and looking for new opportunities.

--Consistently emailing or calling and inviting authors to submit their book manuscripts or proposal to Morgan James.

--Also I follow-up consistently with potential Consistent follow-up with my potential Morgan James authors.

The Difference Maker

There are many functions that I do over and over. Consistent completion is important for many of these tasks. For example, I have a number of monthly writing deadlines. I enter the task in my reminders which helps me complete the task on the deadline. Meeting deadlines is a critical element for every professional writer. You do not want to be asking your editor for more time to meet your deadline. It is not a good impression you are making on them.

For almost any task that I do on a regular basis, I often create a system or method which as I do it over and over and eventually it becomes a habit. I’m always looking for ways to streamline and improve the system with a new tool. The result is these tasks get completed. Are you using systems to create these habits for your writing life? Or are you reinventing it each time?

Completing these tasks is important for several reasons:

1. Professionalism
2. Dependability
3. Your Reputation as a Writer
4. To Add to your body of work as a writer
5. To get additional work or assignments

From my experience in this business, nothing happens without taking consistent action which involves regular communication (phone or email or in the mail or text). How important are creating systems or habits in your writing life? Let me know in the comments below.

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Last week, Glyndon Greer at the Adazing Podcast published our interview about publishing and how authors can succeed with their books. Listen on Spotify or Apple.

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This prolific editor and author details about the importance of systems and habits in this article. (ClickToTweet)