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Atomic habit of writing (idea validation)

I am terrible at writing in English and also not a native speaker. It is problematic, as writing seems to be a crucial skill for an indie hacker.

I tried doing "Morning pages" but lasted for only a couple of weeks. I'm using Grammarly and Hemingway app almost daily, but I feel that I need an "Atomic habit" of actual writing to improve the skill. Something tiny that can be improved by 1% daily.

I did some (very shallow) research yesterday and found nothing, apart from a few blog posts on how to get the habit of writing. So, of course, I decided to build a tool for that 😅

https://writing-habit.vercel.app/

The idea is dead simple:

  • There is a new writing topic every day.
  • You can set a target amount of words you want to write today.
  • When you meet your goal, that's it. You finished for the day and can come back tomorrow.

This way, it's easy to build an atomic habit. I can start with just 20 words a day and increase this amount daily by one word. Also, I will always have a fresh topic to write on, which helps to go through the initial block.

What do you think?

on July 5, 2020
  1. 2

    Very cool site. You could add "streaks" to it.

    Make it a chrome extension so it pops up when you open a new tab.

  2. 2

    Hi Alex,

    I'm in a very similar boat. I noticed that you've mentioned "Atomic Habit", I wonder if you've actually read the Atomic Habits book? I cannot recommend it enough, I've also struggled with not being able to stick to writing, but after reading it, I've been writing daily for about 6 full months and only missed a single day.

    In regards to morning pages and writing, that's also a new habit that I'm cultivating. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron book is probably the best way to deal with self-doubt and cultivating your creativity.

    I hope this helps.

    1. 1

      Hey.

      Wow! Six months of daily writing is a lot, congrats!

      Yeah, I've read Atomic Habits, and it totally changed my mindset. In fact, this app idea is a merge of thoughts from "Rework" and "Atomic habits." Rework emphasizes the importance of writing skills for any maker, and Atomic Habits teaches how to acquire a skill painlessly.

      I've read Artist's Way as well, loved the book. I even started morning pages but hadn't been able to stick to it for very long. The amount of writing turned me off, three pages right from the start, were a bit too much.

  3. 2

    You should check out 750words.com which sounds similar to your idea - here's an article about it. In that sense there's definitely a market for this kind of thing.

    1. 2

      Thanks for this one! I stumbled upon 750words.com in the morning today actually. Seems similar indeed, will check it out.

  4. 2

    Hey there!

    This is very great. I love writing as well, I created https://midnight.pub - a virtual pub for people to write and share their days. I love your writing topic idea!

  5. 1

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