My three most important writing habits by Danielle Swanson

1. Read, read, read. In On Writing, Stephen King tells future writers that they need to read and goes on to say he reads about 52 books a year. At the time I read the book, I had a semi-obsession with King, and while that has waned, the importance of his advice has not. As a writer, I think my most important habit is to read, and it's one I stick to daily. I try to read a book a week; sometimes I get in more, sometimes less.

While I am in school, I am usually forced to read whatever I am assigned, and seeing as I take a full load, this is usually about my quota of reading ability. However, when I have breaks, I indulge in my favorite genre - chick lit - the stuff I want to write. This let's me have a clearer understanding of what is being done in the genre and helps me to see how other authors work. I think one cannot learn to write humor, to write tragedy, to write, well, anything, until one has read that type of work, and the more I read of it, the better writer I become.

2. Making my writing important. In my past life, I was a journalist, and as a journalist, I got to do a lot of cool things. Perhaps one of the coolest things I did was interview country-music artist Cledus T. Judd, who, for those of you who aren't familar with him, sings such hits as, "I Love NASCAR" and "She's Got a Butt Bigger than the Beatles."Anyways, during the interview, Judd said something that has forever changed my life. (Yes, that sentence really says Cledus T. Judd changed my life.) Anyways, he was talking about how he became famous, and he said, "If you really want to be successful, you have to be willing to give everything else up." I'll never forget that moment. It was like an ephiany for me.

It was nothing big, words I had probably heard before, and as Judd went on to explain how for him this meant leaving behind his friends and family and work long hours and touring the country, all I could think about was what this meant for me. If I want to be a successful writer, I have to be willing to give up a clean house and a gourmet dinner. I have to be willing to give up afternoon lunches and Saturdays at the lake. I have to be willing to give up sleep and those early morning hours when the bed is so comfortable.

Okay, so I'll admit, sometimes I'm not willing to give these things up. But the point is that if I want to be a good writer, I have to make my writing the most important thing and to put those other things aside. It's easy to say writing is just a hobby, but if that was the attitude I took, than writing would be just a hobby.

Instead, I gave up my career and came back to school here. And I've worked out a schedule that allows me to etch out at least a chapter a month, hopefully more during the summer, and that has scheduled in writing - the kind I want to do in addition to the kind I have to do - in order to remember that writing is important.

3. Planning and plotting. When I entered this program, my writing floundered around, jumping from one plot to another. I was constantly told to outline but couldn't do it to save my life. I'd create those giant Roman numeral monstrosities, only to have them sit idly for months afterward.

However, since I was reading so much, I began to see a trend in the things I read. Each chapter served a unique purpose in the story: the purposes were not always the same, but there was a reason for every action. I began to see how stories moved along, and I began to understand what exactly my teachers were asking of me.

Even though I am still largely a "seater" when it comes to writing, I now have at least a general concept before I go in. I don't plan out each detail and am never quite sure what will happen between my characters, but I do know what needs to happen in each chapter to make it to the end. The book I'm working on now is like a long road-trip and each of the little towns written out, I just don't know what the gas stations or billboards will look like along the way. I'm excited to take the journey and can't wait to get to the destination.