Writing 25 blog posts in 25 days

Between 2012 to 2016, I used to write thousands of words almost everyday for several technology and consumer electronics news websites.

Since 2016, I’d been stuck with a mental block towards writing. Until June 4th, when I finally got past it.

This isn’t a post for serious writers trying to make a living out of their writing. This is for people who want to document and share their thoughts in public for no other reason than the pure joy of creation and expression.

Here’s how I did it

1- Make it super super low effort

If you read my older blog posts published last year, you’ll see that all new posts are significantly shorter. I have intentionally focused on writing fewer words, in order to make the process of writing super super low effort.

Earlier, I would mentally keep building myself up to writing an epic 10,000 word definitive guide on a certain topic. As a result, the mental picture I built for myself was of a mountain I needed to climb.

To get off my ass, I needed to climb tiny stairs instead.

So I intentionally switched to writing fewer words. As little as required to get me from thought -> writing -> publish.

It all began here.

2- Write as often as possible

After making it easy to start writing, I also wanted to write as often as I could.

Repetition creates habit.

And I’ve published more times in 25 days than I have in all the days since 2016. So much so that when it’s evening time, my mind starts telling me that it’s time to write.

That same feeling was nudging me before I sat down to write this post.

Writing has started feeling like brushing teeth.

3- Write about whatever you feel like

I knew that if I had to sit on my desk guessing what to write about, I’d have another mountain to climb and that might just stop me from writing in the first place.

To counter that, every time I would have a thought - while browsing, talking to someone, whenever - that I want to write about, I’d drop it into a private WhatsApp group.

More often than not, I’d simply write about whatever thought is circling my mind. It’s almost like a monologue that is already circling in my mind, and I just let it out by writing.

For example - Today is the last day of June. I happened to be reflecting on the month that passed, and thought about writing this post.

4- Sharing in public

Immediately after writing a post, I would share it on Twitter and on WhatsApp status.

Even though I had only told all of 3 people about my mental block towards writing and my efforts to breaking it, sharing my writings in public served as a source of accountability.

That’s it. That's the post. It's everything I did to overcome a mental block of 4 years and started writing consistently.

And I hope reading this post helps you overcome a mental block and get started on doing something you really enjoy, whether it is writing or anything else.

TL;DR

• Make it super super low effort to begin
• Write often. Repetition creates habit
• Write about whatever your mind finds interesting
• Share in public to create artificial accountability

What’s next?

From here on, I will be shifting my focus from quantity to quality. The goalpost has shifted slightly.

I will continue writing short posts. However, the goal is to allocate time and effort on longer-form writing, like the one you read today.

Can’t wait to share my learnings with you :)

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Update: I wrote a guide on How to Develop a Daily Writing Habit. If that's your goal for this year, give it a read.