by Joyce Good Henderson

Created on: July 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 21, 2009

There are as many habits as there are writers; however, if you want to be a highly successfully writer, look to those who are. What habits do they possess that will help you become highly effective as a writer?

1. Write about something you care about; have a driving reason to write.

Whether you are writing fiction or non fiction, you need to write about something you are passionate about. Highly effective writers must have an emotional connection to their work. When your writing voice comes from genuine experience, readers can feel it and connect with it. Writing is an investment of time, energy and self. You owe it to yourself to write with passion, and enthusiasm.

Highly effective writers who have been writing for years didn't achieve their success without having a driving and passionate desire to write. Every writer has a personal, unique reason for writing. They might like writing as a form of self-expression, or they want to entertain, or change the world with their words. But highly effective writers look beyond the rewards of money or fame. They love to write for its own sake.

For many of us, ego provides strong motivation for writing. It's okay to admit that because we all need recognition of some sort. You may write for money, fame, glory, revenge, or simply to prove to yourself or someone else that you can do it. Just remember to be passionately driven to the point of obsession if you want to be a highly effective writer. Set aside motives, you need to have an internal flame, and a passion, for your writing to achieve excellence.

2. Write every day; Write in small bursts; Set writing goals.

The number one rule for highly effective writers is: Apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and write. Joyce Carol Oates said that she would write, even when her soul felt as thin as a playing card, because somehow the act of writing would set it aright.

Every writer has times when the words don't want to come, when he doesn't want to sit in front of a blank screen. But sitting down everyday to write is how you become a writer. Stephen King writes every day, including Christmas. Write something every day. It's easier to fix what you've written than to edit a blank page. Even if you only write one page every day, that's 365 pages in a year. For highly effective writers, writing is like breathing. You cannot not do it.

Train yourself to write in small bursts. Creativity doesn't have to take large blocks of time. One page a day

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