by Ruth Belena

Created on: July 14, 2010

Good writing involves more than creative talent, and a writer should know that regular writing strengthens the will and improves self-discipline. When writing is done mostly for pleasure, whether it is for publishing on a personal blog or submitting to a writing site, it is necessary to develop self-discipline in order to accomplish personal writing goals. Any writer who is constantly learning from the process of writing will develop good self-discipline, and success as a full-time writer does depend upon being self-disciplined.

1 - Meeting targets and deadlines 

Constantly working to deadlines provides writers with the motivation to be more self-disciplined. Editors and publishers have fixed schedules and expect each stage of writing to be completed on time. When a writer fails to meet a deadline, this can cause serious delay to publication, or create problems for a client. A writer who cannot complete work on time is therefore unlikely to be offered any more writing jobs or opportunities to get published. 

2 - Sticking to a good writing routine

All writers benefit by having a routine. This means setting a personal writing schedule and sticking to it. Before starting to write, a reasonable amount of time needs to be set aside for initial research and planning. After writing the first draft, more time is needed for making necessary changes to the finished piece.

Following a strict routine will ensure each stage of the writing process is completed on time, and should greatly improve self-discipline.

3 - Fact checking, proofreading and editing

Good writing improves self-discipline by ensuring accuracy and attention to detail. A sloppy piece of writing can be turned into a finely honed piece, but only when time and effort is made to check facts, to remedy errors and to spot repetitions or omissions.

Practice in proofreading and editing is a good exercise in discipline. These activities allow a writer to become more self-critical, to understand where there is weakness, and to see where there is need for improvement. The ability to recognise personal imperfections is essential for development of self-discipline. 

It is not only the quality of writing that improves with practice, the more writing completed on time, with each part of the writing process carried out correctly and in full, the more self-disciplined a writer becomes. Improved self-discipline leads to greater success as a writer. Editors and publishers are more willing to work with well-disciplined writers. Even when writing is done purely for pleasure, there is more self-fulfillment to be gained when the process of writing improves self-discipline.    

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