3 simple writing habits that will make you a PHENOMENAL writer.

If you think people are born with writing gifts already hard-wired into their beings, you’re wrong.

Yes, I do think there are people who have a natural way with words.

But I do still think that writing, just like any other skill in this life is one that can be carefully developed.

In this post, I am sharing 3 simple habits you can start practicing from today that will help you become, dare I say, a phenomenal writer.

Here’s the video version of this post.

3 simple writing habits that will make you a phenomenal writer

Write everyday

A few years ago, I was intrigued to read that world-renowned author Stephen King wrote 1000 words everyday.

For about 4 years now, I have written around 1000 to 2000 words everyday. Weekends excluded.

Some of that writing has been horrible. But here is the thing about writing everyday – it makes you a better writer.

If you wanted to become a world class 100-meter race runner, while watching Usain Bolt run races would be inspiring, going out there to run yourself would be better.

The same with writing.

The more you write, the better you become.

I sometimes go back and read my old blog posts on my older blog and I want to kick myself!

The writing was bad!

But I wrote anyway and over the years I improved.

You don’t have to write 1000 words everyday. But challenging yourself to write everyday will make your writing richer.

Here are a few ideas on how to do that.

• Start your own blog
• Start writing on Medium
• Get on LinkedIn and use their blogging feature or simply post to your LinkedIn feed everyday
• Start using Facebook Notes to write

The opportunities to write are ENDLESS. Grab one and keep it moving.

Become an avid reader

Most of us read just for the knowledge.

And this is fine.

But if you want to write content and books that people devour, you must also read to learn style.

There are books out there that teach you how to write. Two are such books are The Elements of Style and On Writing Well.

I highly recommend both books.

But you should not limit your reading to book that teach you how to write.

Read widely.

Because of my background in healthcare and medical research, I tend to read everything from from research studies published in highly ranked medical journals to Instagram captions.

Reading widely does a few things for you.

• You learn different writing styles based on the subculture. The way you write for the Journal of the American Medical Association is going to be different from how you would write for a magazine that targets teens.
• You will learn how to captivate people’s attention. As you read, you will (or SHOULD) take not of what draws you in and makes you read. You will find that some of the stuff you read is blah while others capture your attention till the end. The more content you read like that, the more you will learn to write like that.

Test. Test. Test.

Writing captivating content is very much like a laboratory.

You test things out – some of it will work and some of it won’t.

And this is fine. The essence of an experiment is to test a hypothesis.

When you write everyday, you create more and more opportunities to test your writing.

If your writing is great, you will get feedback suggesting so.

If it is not, same thing.

Over time, as you write everyday and test your writing, you will find what works and as you write more of what works, you enjoy the benefits that come with being a phenomenal writer.

It is possible to become a great writer. And in my experience as a paid writer, these 3 tips have helped me tremendously.

What other writing tips have helped you hone your writing skills?

Would you like to learn how to get paid $100-$200 per post as a freelance writer? Learn how you can work with me 1-on-1 here.