There is nothing linear about being a writer. There are no predefined paths with predictable outcomes. Writing is a journey of ups and downs, acceptance and rejection, success and failure.

For a writer, writing is the pinnacle of their self-expression. It is not something a writer desires to do, rather, it is something they must do. Writing is a manifestation of a writer’s emotional understanding and interpretation of the world around them. If we’re being completely honest, some writers feel more comfortable expressing themselves through the written word rather than verbally.

Writing grants one a degree of control and agency that can be lacking in other areas of life. A writer is a the master of the worlds they create through their writing, answerable to no one.

While we can debate if writing is a skill we are gifted with through some form of genetic lottery or if it is a learned behavior, I’ve always felt that the practice of writing can be compared to a muscle. For your muscles to stay healthy and grow even stronger, you must exercise them or they become stagnant and weak.

Writing requires discipline, commitment and the ability to self-motivate. It demands patience, adaptability, and big-picture thinking. Above all, it takes relentless persistence.

After years of struggling and holding myself to unachievable perfection, I’ve come to understand that writing is a journey of perpetual growth. The more time one devotes to writing, the faster one’s skills expand, adapt, and mature.

Here are five simple practices that you can adopt which will help facilitate your growth as a writer.

A fixed writing schedule

The best way to become a better writer is to write and write regularly. For many years, I spent so much time worrying about what I was going to write that I accomplished very little actual writing.

I now devote two hours of my evening to writing. While I allow myself a degree of flexibility in determining which specific hours I choose because of other life commitments, I’m dogmatic in ensuring that I give myself two solid hours of writing time every evening.

I prefer to write in the evening as I feel my creative abilities are at their strongest during this time of the day. Unless I physically cannot get out of bed due to illness, I no longer waiver in my time commitment to writing.

A workspace conducive to effective writing

Finding a space that inspired and motivated me proved to be a challenge when I initially committed to writing regularly.

I had started writing in an empty room at home, but I quickly found it to be non-conducive to effective writing. Whenever I hit a snag in my work — which was more frequent than I thought possible — being at home provided the ideal environment to procrastinate. To vent my frustration, I’d allow myself to become distracted by other facets of my life and completed very little writing.

As an experiment, I decided that every evening for one week I would go to my local library to write for two hours. Being in an alien environment which I had no personal connection to was highly effective for me. At home, I was lucky if I could get 500 words down in two hours. At the library, I was easily writing twice that much in the same amount of time.

While it is impossible for me to write elsewhere every evening, I have coordinated my schedule to allow me to work at the library at least three evenings a week.

Write first and edit second

I remember back in high school my English teachers would often stress the notion of quality over quantity when it came to writing essays or research projects. While I don’t downplay the importance of quality, always focusing on the calibre of my work was a very large writing hindrance.

Striving to write at 100% of my creative capacity at all times meant I would burn out quickly or get so frustrated that I just gave up and accomplished very little. This quest for perfection typically meant I never got far in my writing and left too many projects unfinished.

I believe that many writers are perfectionists which is why many of us don’t “come out” as writers to family and friends. We don’t believe our work is strong and we are embarrassed at the thought of anyone reading it. I easily became discouraged and riddled with self-doubt if I didn’t feel my work was perfect right from the start. I ignored the fact that for most writers quality is found during the editing process.

Over time, I have pushed myself to just write and forced my perfectionism onto the back-burner. Whenever I start to feel doubt creeping in makes me feel that the quality of my material is lacking, I remind myself that the important thing is that I’m writing something rather than nothing at all. It is during the editing process that I can come back and hone the quality of my writing. If I write nothing to begin with, I’ll have nothing to edit.

Network with other writers

Because writing is largely a solo activity, it is very easy to feel isolated and alone. Although I am an introvert by nature and typically thrive in my own company, when I initially started writing regularly I found myself frustrated at my lack of a support network.

It’s not that my family and friends haven’t been hugely supportive — they have been — but I believe that in many facets of life, we need to make connections with those who are living experiences parallel to our own.

Networking with fellow writers has proved to be a significant step forward in my writing journey. Through various social media groups, I’ve built up a small but vital group of fellow writers whom I communicate with regularly. It makes a world of difference to connect with people who can easily relate to the experiences you’re going through. They provide a great deal of motivation and support during the hard times and they are often the first people to congratulate me when I have success.

They also give me objective feedback about my writing and provide invaluable suggestions for areas where I can improve or expand upon.

Networking with fellow writers has also opened doors to paid writing work, connections to people within the literary world, contests, and potential publishing opportunities.

Stretch your writing muscles

Typically, my two hours of writing each day are devoted to a certain project whether it be a story for Medium, a novel I’m writing, or work for a client. Before I get down to work, however, I like to take ten minutes to engage in some random writing exercises. They can range from creating five opening lines for potential stories to summarizing my day using a single newspaper-style headline.

I have found that doing regular writing exercises adds some variety to my routine and gets my creative juices flowing. I like to think of these exercises as my opening stretches before the main workout.

By taking ten minutes to complete some simple writing exercises before I get down to business, I find I enter my writing task full of energy and in a more positive mood. I’ve found that it helps to curtail writer’s block and it continues to build and further expand my writing skills.