I’ve worked hard to create the daily writing habit I detailed in Chapter 2.

That might not sound like a big deal to you—keeping a daily journal.

But to me, it's huge. I spent a lifetime failing as a journal-writer. I never had the patience or discipline or interest to write only for myself. I didn't get the point.

(I also felt at once proud and like a failure. Proud: “All writers keep a diary.” Not this one, pal! Failure: “All writers keep a diary.” What's wrong with me?)

A daily writing habit is important if you want to build creative muscle. Every day, I work on getting my writing muscles as taut and toned and thrumming as a CrossFit disciple's.

What happens when you lapse a little? When you feel emptied out or tired? Or you got up late and have an early meeting?

What happens then?

I’ll tell you: You lose motivation. Your daily journal entries read:

• “Ugh.”
• “blllrrrrgh.”
• “What's the point?”

The Practice becomes The Plod. It's not fun anymore.

Time to get our groove back. Time to call on the genius of artist, author, professor (UW–Madison) Lynda Barry.

Lynda suggests a four-square technique to give structure and inspiration and a bit of whimsy to a daily habit.¹

It works like this, which I've adapted from her:²

Divide a journal page into four sections, titled as in the image above. Every day, fill in each section. Bullet points help—because they give you permission to use sentence fragments and partial thoughts.

• Did—How did you spend your day?
• Saw—What did you see? Notice?
• Heard—What did you overhear? Snippets of conversation overheard from strangers, neighbors, unsuspecting spouses on a Zoom call, kids, the meow of your colleague's needy cat?
• Draw a related doodle or sketch. Important point: Just draw. Do not judge your talent or the artistic merit of the image. Your objective is just to loosen up and have fun—not judge the quality of your art.

After a few days, you'll start to notice the world a little differently. You'll start to act like a hunter-gatherer, collecting things inside your noggin so you can record them later. And you'll get your groove back—almost by default.

You aren't “writing.” You're just making lists.

* * *

Other techniques can inspire your daily writing habit when you're stuck and rut-ified. (Not a word? It is now.)

• Set a tiny goal: Write a single line a day. You'll probably write more than one, of course.
• Use a daily writing prompt. (The Journal Club publishes a new prompt every day at joclub.world as well as on Instagram.)
• Try Morning Pages: Three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing.
• Copywork. “Copywork” means literally copying the work of others longhand to understand style, word choice, and more. Copy the sentences of writing you love in your diary or journal as a way to feel in your own hands what great writing looks like. I do this regularly with writing that delights me or makes me laugh.
• Don't overthink. Just go. Is this a technique? Or a state of mind? Maybe both.