Lay the foundation for writing progress, starting with self-discipline and deliberate practice

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On the road to improving writing, self-discipline and Deliberate practice are two indispensable elements. This article will share with you how to achieve a leap in writing skills through specific methods, cases and thinking establishment.

Speaking of self-discipline, I believe you must be familiar with it, and you must also know its importance! Self-discipline is the foundation for achieving any goal, especially an activity like writing that requires long periods of solitary work and repeated thinking. The first step to building self-discipline is not difficult. It is recommended that you set clear goals and expectations. These goals should be specific and measurable, such as writing 500 words per day or completing one social media post per week.

How to achieve self-discipline? I have a simple method to share with you, which is to do time management and establish a good writing habit. In other words, help yourself fix your writing time! Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, choose the time of day when you feel most awake and creative to write!

Protect this hard-won time and do not let any external force destroy or affect it easily. Please create an environment conducive to writing for yourself and minimize distractions, such as turning off mobile phone notifications, keeping your desk tidy, etc. In addition, I also suggest that you set up a writing ritual, maybe listening to some light music or having a cup of Americano coffee, which will help you enter the flow mode as soon as possible.

As the saying goes, “Rome was not built in a day.” Don’t be too anxious when writing. It is also great to start with short-term goals! Set small goals for each writing session to help maintain your motivation and focus.

Once you have the awareness of self-discipline, practice more deliberately! Of course, this is also an important key to improving your writing skills!

Deliberate practice is not just about writing repeatedly, but about improving your writing skills with purpose and planning. This means focusing on specific skills in the writing process, which, in the case of novel writing, is paying attention to details such as story structure, character establishment, and plot development.

Deliberate practice is important, but it also requires a method. It is recommended that you choose a writing skill you want to improve, conduct in-depth research and analysis (if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me)!

If we continue with the example of novel writing, then perhaps you should practice on narrative techniques, such as imitating the writing style of an author you admire, or working on a specific plot setting.

Of course, practicing hard alone is not enough. I also suggest that you seek the power of some organizations, such as through writing communities, [writing coaches] (https://course.vista.tw/courses/writing-companion) or online communities to get some feedback and make adjustments accordingly.

In the past, you may have heard of the “[10,000 hours rule](https://wiki.mbalib.com/zh-tw/10,000 hours rule)”, which means that if you want to reach a professional level in a certain field, you need at least about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. Having said that, it’s not just about the accumulation of time, it’s more about how you use that time.

You must know that any successful writer has often made a lot of preparation work clearly targeting his own weaknesses and challenges through deliberate practice in his early writing career.

Speaking of which, I want to share a real case with you. “A Song of Ice and Fire” by [George R.R. Martin](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/George R.R. Martin)(https://www.books.com.tw/exep/assp.php/vista/products/001051321 6?utm_source=vista&utm_medium=ap-books&utm_content=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-202402)” series is hard to put down. In fact, this is an excellent case that fully highlights the application of deliberate practice and self-discipline in writing.

Martin demonstrated not only his profound world-building and character development skills, but also his obsessive attention to detail when creating this epic fantasy series.

Martin delves into history and culture, incorporating this knowledge into his writing to create a rich and detailed fantasy world. He deliberately practices telling complex stories, using multi-perspective narrative techniques to show the broad story background and character psychology.

Despite the intense pressure and expectations, Martin stuck to his writing pace and was in no rush to release work that didn’t live up to his own standards. His self-discipline is not only reflected in his persistence in writing, but also in his insistence on the quality of his works, which has finally captured countless readers around the world.

Now, I believe you already know: successful writing is not only the accumulation of skills, but also the development of mentality. It is very important to have a growth mindset and believe that through hard work you can improve your writing skills. There is no shame in failure, every failure in writing is an opportunity to learn and improve. I hope you can, like me, see challenges as opportunities for growth rather than reasons to avoid or give up.

In the past, I often told my writing class students: “Continuous learning is very important. No matter what level your writing skills are, you must maintain curiosity and a learning attitude, and constantly seek new knowledge and skills.”

The new year is coming, and through a combination of self-discipline, deliberate practice, and a growth mindset, I believe you can make significant progress in your writing journey. Remember, writing is a marathon, not a sprint, and every step of the way will bring you closer to your goals.

I hope we can work together in the upcoming Year of the Dragon!

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★ To comprehensively improve your writing skills, welcome to sign up for the “Vista Writing Companion Program”.

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Further reading

• Dancing under the pen: A practical guide to developing a writing habit
• Create a perceptual economy and promote brand identity: Take “Ginseng Dumpling·Liangton” as an example
• Enhance punctuation to make your article more powerful

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