Changing Those Bad Writing Habits

What bad habits have you ditched to make yourself a better writer? What good habits have you picked up?

Brenda here.

If we're talking bad writing work habits, lately, I've become somewhat more organized in how I deal with a manuscript. After many rounds of editing manuscripts for books and short stories, I've learned more of my tendencies with every project. When writing, I'll change details about characters or mix up what happened when or who said what to whom. I used to mix up at least one name in every book. So, how to combat this?

I've begun jotting down the key plot points, including the day and weather for each chapter, on post-it notes. This time around, I'm also making notes of which characters are in each chapter - saves me having to search through the book to find one of them.  It gives me a panoramic view of the plot, and boy, does this help with the editing!

I've even begun using different colours for different days...

In this regard, I'm more dedicated and thorough about the entire editing process. I now look for things that bother me with a more critical eye, for example, the same word reused closely together in a paragraph. I've also become aware of the same word used often in the entire manuscript, because let's face it, we all have our favourite words and phrases.

I used to write when the spirit moved me (luckily quite often) but with the last two manuscripts, I've given myself a 500-word daily minimum. While I still will take the odd day off, I've been holding true to my new goal for the most part.

An American author Debbi Mack interviewed my a few weeks ago on Crime Cafe, and asked questions about my writing process. You can watch the Youtube video here (I come in at about the 3-minute mark).

These are my main bad writing habits ... very happy the question didn't include bad life habits, or this would be a much longer post :-)

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