167 - Good Habits and Accountability Groups

Episode 167 - The Importance of Good Habits and How Accountability Groups can Help with Clarissa Gosling and Other Guests of The Indy Author

January 3, 2023

I talk with Clarissa Gosling about THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD HABITS AND HOW ACCOUNTABILITY GROUPS CAN HELP, including the importance of consistency, giving yourself time to rest, the challenge of measuring creative productivity, and the value both of finding what you’re comfortable with AND of changing up your approach.

Clarissa’s work explores purpose and belonging across worlds. Having never found an actual portal to faeryland, she creates her own fantastical worlds where dragons, fae and other magical creatures rule. She is an admin for the 365 Writing Challenge, an international group that supports people to build the habit of writing. And she is one of the co-hosts of the Reading Queens podcast, which discusses mainly young adult fantasy books and their major tropes. She lives in the Netherlands.

I got so inspired by the topic of good habits, I solicited input from previous podcast guests on:

What is a good habit that supports your creative work?
What is a bad habit that undermines your creative work?

You’ll get to hear perspectives from Douglas Smith, Kelly Simmons, Lee Savino, J. W. Judge, Ran Walker, Julie Duffy, Michael La Ronn, Roland Denzel, Bruce Robert Coffin, Tiffany Yates Martin, John Gaspard, and Frank Zafiro.

"The most important thing is that you are consistent It's a personal challenge. Be consistent over the course of the year. It's not a contest between the different people. So it doesn't matter if I'm trying to write a thousand words a day and you are trying to write a hundred words a day. It's not looking to see who gets the most at the end of the week, month, year or whatever. It's have you met your own goals." —Clarissa Gosling

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Links

Clarissa's Links:
https://clarissagosling.com/
https://www.instagram.com/clarissahgosling/
https://www.tiktok.com/@clarissagosling

Referenced in the Intro:
A follow-up to Episode 166 - Plotting with an Unreliable Narrator with Jane Cleland
An unreliable narrator is an untrustworthy storyteller, most often used in narratives with a first-person point of view. The unreliable narrator is either deliberately deceptive or unintentionally misguided, forcing the reader to question their credibility as a storyteller.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-an-unreliable-narrator-4-ways-to-create-an-unreliable-narrator-in-writing#77vrrrQj9HXt8TprnXmn7L

Referenced in the Interview:
Episode 163 - Year End: The Writing Craft And The Publishing Voyage with Jennifer Hilt & Michael La Ronn
Episode 146 - Managing Writing with a Full-time Career with J.W. Judge
Episode 158 - What Writers Can Learn from Remote Workers with Ryan Fahey
Episode 030 - Common Writer Wisdom: Is it Right for You with Becca Syme

Matty's Links:
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Past guests of the podcast share their good and bad habits ...

Clarissa’s comments about habits made me curious about writing-related habits of other guests of the podcast, so I’m going to (virtually) bring some of those guests into the conversation.
I sent out this question to them:

What is a good habit that supports your creative work?
What is a bad habit that undermines your creative work?

Here’s what they had to say ...

Douglas Smith Episode 079 - Making the Most of Your Short Fiction with Douglas Smith says:

Good habit: set a schedule, set an alarm, and set a goal for the day.
Bad habit: procrastination

Kelly Simmons Episode 147 - Writing for Audio with Kelly Simmons and Episode 028 - Writing the Killer Query with Kelly Simmons says:

Good habit: Keeping a tight calendar and preserving mornings to write or exercise — “I’m available from 11 am on” is the phrase I’ve uttered more than any other in the universe.
Bad habit: I’m lazy about organizing files and links and keeping software/computer stuff up to date. So when shit goes south, and it does, I get so angry.

Lee Savino Episode 058 - Author Newsletters with Lee Savino says:

Good habit: Doing yoga or stretching and exercise to warm up my muscles. Years of sedentary work take their toll! Taking time to grow stronger leads to pain free writing.
Bad habit: Checking Facebook, or wanting to during writing sprints.

J.W. Judge Episode 146 - Managing Writing with a Full-time Career with J.W. Judge says:

Good habit: The habit that I instilled years ago is having a dedicated time for doing my creative work and being intentional about maintaining it. For me, that time is getting up early and working on my books first thing in the morning. This habit has allowed me to write four non-fiction books and four novels over the last five years while having a busy litigation practice and raising a young family. I usually only get 30-60 minutes a day to do my creative work, but by doing it consistently over time, it leads to productivity and dependable results.
Bad habit: I tend to undermine my creative work by taking on too many projects. With only a limited amount of time to work on my creative projects, I would probably be best served to limit myself to writing, rather than also podcasting and being engaged in a couple of online communities. But those things are also fulfilling to me, so I accept that they undermine my ability to write more.

Ran Walker Episode 098 - Redefining Indy Success through Short Fiction with Ran Walker says:

Good habit: Consuming different types of art, whether it be paintings, music, films, or even books that are outside of my usual genre.
Bad habit: Dealing with social media and all that that area entails. If you are not careful, you can go down a rabbit hole and lose a lot of time on things that have little impact on your writing.

Julie Duffy Episode 017 - Story a Day with Julie Duffy says:

Good habit: Reading. I know it sounds silly because we all got into this because we loved to read, but when we think about 'writing' we tend to think about 'putting words on the page'. It means we feel guilty if we're not at our desks. But really, there's so much more to 'writing' than 'words on page' and reading is a huge part of that. If I'm reading more (of the stuff I luuuuurve, that brings me joy, not the works I'm 'supposed to' read) then i'm very likely to feel that itch to get to my desk. So yes, afternoons on the couch with a good book are part of my writing practice (when i'm doing it right).
Habits that don't support my creativity: doom-scrolling, AKA looking for stimulation in the slot-machine of social media and news sites. Yes, there's novelty and surprise there...but not the kind that makes me happy, energized or ready to write.

Michael La Ronn, who has joined me in so many episodes that I’d recommend you just go to TheIndyAuthor.com/Podcast and search for his name, says:

Good habit: Staying consistent and writing every day. By training myself to show up, I find that words flow easier.
Bad habit: Starting projects before travel or other obligations. I find it hard to regain momentum once I lose it.

Roland Denzel Episode 155 - The Benefits (and Costs) of Membership with Roland Denzel says:

Good habit: I like to set my desk and computer up so my next step is ready to go and there's no question about where to start. I typically do this as the last step of my day, the night before. Then I turn off my computer wifi as a reminder to write first, play later.
Bad habit: Reacting immediately to things I see in a text, an email, or on a social media post. Most of these things don't need an immediate response (or any response, in the case of social media). Once you react to something like this, it can be hard to get back into a creative mindset, so you just keep scrolling and reacting, losing a lot of time over something that could have been done later.

Bruce Robert Coffin Episode 035 - Mistakes Writers Make about Police Procedure and How to Avoid Them with Bruce Robert Coffin says:

Good habit: When I’m struggling to create I drive to the local library to work. Free from distractions, I get a lot of writing done.
Bad habit: Activating the social media notifications on my computer. When writing its best to just shut them off.

Tiffany Yates Martin, another multi-episode guest, says:

Good habits: Regularity and schedule. I block out mornings every weekday to work on my writing, course creation, or any other FoxPrint-related business; afternoons are for editing work. I've done this for decades very effectively. ... Prioritization and clarity: I have always reexamined my business and my goals regularly to make sure I'm spending my time and effort where it matters to me, but recently I made a concrete priority list of my goals in order that has been invaluable in keeping me from overscheduling or overcommitting, and focusing on the things that are most important to me. It lets me know what to say no to, and how best to use my time. ... Structure and deadlines: Luckily my mind loves both of these, but holding myself to firm structure and deadlines and not being "squishy" about my work means I get everything done as promised and as planned. ... Rest: Allowing myself to regularly completely mentally detach from work (evenings, weekends, vacations, etc.) has been a hard-learned skill, and one of the most productive things I've done for my business.
Bad habits: Email. Busywork distractions. Time frittering on minutiae. Saying yes to too much and being overly perfectionistic on tasks that don't require it.

John Gaspard Episode 145 - Speech to Text and Back Again with John Gaspard and Episode 128 - Lessons from Filmmaking for the Indy Author with John Gaspard says:

For me, the best “good” habit I’ve developed is to not beat myself up when I’m not writing. I’ve come to the place where I write when I write and that’s just fine. Or course, I have the advantage of not trying to earn a living from my writing, so that makes this “habit” easier. I spent many years in the real world writing to deadlines, and so I’ve banished deadlines (insofar as I can) from my writing life.

Frank Zafiro Episode 160 - Mistakes Writers Make about Police Roles and How to Avoid Them with Frank Zafiro says:

Good habit: Believing in myself.
Bad habit: Not believing in myself.

I know this might sound flippant, but I do mean it. Every time I finish a book or story, I think it sucks. Later, when I go in to revise or proof-listen to an audio version, I realize it is actually pretty good. Likewise, every time I look around at the marketplace, all I see are the people who are outperforming me in sales or prestige. I feel like I'm failing somehow. Falling short. A fraud. But then I consider all of the people who are still working to get as far in their journey as I am in mine, including those thousands upon thousands who say they want to write a book but have yet to put even one word to the page, and I realize I'm actually doing pretty good.
Believe in yourself.

I hope the examples of good and bad habits that my guests shared give you some ideas for your own writing craft and publishing voyage!

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Clarissa, and the comments of my other guests! Now it's your turn ... what is a good habit that supports your creative work? What is a bad habit that undermines your creative work?

Please post your comments on YouTube--and I'd love it if you would subscribe while you're there!

NOTE: After several years of trying to cover the costs of producing the podcast with earnings from patronage and sponsorships, I finally had to acknowledge that, for now at least, The Indy Author Podcast is more a labor of love than an income stream. As a result, I needed to find ways to reduce my expenses, and the expense I finally decided to eliminate was the editing of the transcript.

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