Important!!

How to make writing fun

Writing is hard.

Writing is an act of discipline, craftsmanship, and vulnerability all mixed into one cocktail. Mastering the craft takes years of focus, iterations, and failures. Consequently, most writers who start on the pathway to mastery give up.

I've been writing since 2021. Make no mistake, I am nowhere near mastery, but committing to the craft of writing for 3 years isn't too shabby.

In this letter, we'll talk about how I've stuck to the craft of writing throughout the challenges it brings and why you should too.

The not so secret, secret

When starting as a writer I put too much time and energy into consuming content on how others write.

• "I tried Neil Gaiman's writing routine"

• "7 best tools and software for writers"

• "My secret formula for staying in a flow state"

I was under the opinion that if I consumed this type of content it would make me a better writer. But for better or for worse the truth is much simpler:

The best way to get better at writing is to sit down at your desk and write.

It's unsexy and sometimes isn't fun. Sometimes you'll do anything to distract yourself from doing the work. Somehow your kitchen will be spotless, your room vacuumed and dusted, and a book will beg for you to pick it up.

But when distraction is calling your name, you must remind yourself the magic is in the work you're avoiding.

Though, the whole point of this letter is to help make sitting down to write fun. But let me preface the following tactics with one thing. You can't make writing fun if you're not willing to take the first step of showing up every day ready to write.

The first step requires discipline, sometimes excruciating amounts of it. But once you take that painful first step the rest is easy, dare I say, fun.

Make it a game

There are many ways to gamify writing. The best depends on which one works for you.

Below I've listed a few different ways of gamifying your writing. Try them all. The test should be about which one creates the biggest sense of fun while you write, not how much you get done.

You can always adjust your game settings later.

Game 1: King of the Arena.

The rules of this game are simple.

Keep a log (Google Sheets, notion, or any tool would work) of your daily word count. Each day the goal is to get a new high score.

To make it even more entertaining, invite a couple of friends to join you. Get competitive, don't let your friends beat you!

You can add many different elements to this game. Maybe there's a monthly reward for the writer with the month's highest word count. Or a punishment for the writer with the lowest word count.

Get creative with it!

Game 2: Don't break the chain.

The best way to play this game is by putting up a physical calendar on your wall, and each day you sit down to write you get to put a big ole X across the day.

This gives you the motive to never break the chain. After you stack up a few weeks the idea of missing a day will haunt you.

Game 3: The race.

At the beginning of a writing session write down the thing you want to achieve by the end of the session. Once you have that written down, set a timer for the amount of time you think you can get your task done. Then begin writing.

See if you can beat the clock.

There's also a reverse way to play this game.

Set up a stopwatch and let it run until you lose focus or are completely done with your task.

See how long you can last without losing focus, and see if you can beat your record next time.

Soundtrack

Having a good playlist to listen to while writing is key to elevating your flow and in making it fun.

I would recommend a playlist with little to no words. My favorite thing to do is listen to the instrumental soundtracks of my favorite movies.

Oppenheimer X Interstellar music mix on YouTube is the playlist I go to when I need to get in flow within minutes. Works every time.

Another great playlist is Tyler Denks Spotify playlist 'Big Desk Energy.'

Multiplayer

Most of us view writers as those who isolate their ideas. We go off to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and months later come back with a completed manuscript.

While I do agree this can be glamorous and sometimes necessary, it's not the reality of being a writer.

The reality is writing is most fun when we view it as a multiplayer game.

Talk about your ideas with your family, friends, and co-workers. This is how we develop our thoughts and expand our minds. And it also makes it fun, getting to hear new perspectives and feedback on our ideas.

All great writers know the birth of any book idea comes from the conversations at a dinner table.

Important!

Don’t forget to click this link for early access and feedback on Author Universities community!