Many beginning writers have a lot of bad writing bad habits in place. The same is true even for more mature writers. The key to overcoming some of these bad habits is to become aware of them and how they are not working and to take steps to change them. Do you know which of your habits are bad habits and ones that should be changed if you want to be successful? Well, if you don’t, I’ll take the guess work out for you. Here is a list of bad writing habits: • Being distracted when you sit down to write; • Doing everything and anything but what you’re supposed to be working on when you sit down to write; • Working on too many things at the same time; • Not being able to choose what to do when you sit down to write; • Not knowing your 3 main writing goals and working to achieve them; • Being unable to complete your writing goals; • Taking on way more than you should and being unable to fully complete any project as a result. Now that you know what the bad habits look like, here is a list of good and wholesome writing habits. • Decide what you will work on before you sit down to write; • Use an egg timer to make sure that you are not distracted from your main writing tasks; • Work on one thing at a time to make sure you complete projects and assignments; • Work consistently for a set of time and then take a restorative break. Then get right back to writing again; • Complete all the writing goals you set for yourself; • Pace yourself and don’t overcommit—instead know your limits and use them to create healthy time and writing boundaries. So, do you have any bad writing habits that you need to get rid of? If you do, write down your bad habit, replace it with a wholesome habit and take the time to practise the wholesome writing habit often. It’s that easy folks! Try it! Irene S. Roth Author and Editor