Mari's Journaling Power Blog | Journaling Journeys

The Importance of Writerly Habits

Writerly habits are like good bones, they create the muscle for the work to get done. It’s a rigor that must become part of one’s nature. 

Early on, I read Flannery O’Connor’s wonderful essay, “The Habit of Art.” She instilled in me the idea that art cannot be created without good work habits. Her analogy, the writer is akin to a midwife. One must be there to catch the baby because one never knows when the baby will come.

 I adopted this with great seriousness. As I was exceedingly young, I decided to put my writing first, which meant pretty much living on chicken scratch.

I refused to take on a full-time job. I chose a life of solitude, as I felt it necessary to protect my sensibility. When I was in graduate school, my father wrapped up an old cardigan I used to steal from him in high school as a Christmas gift.