How many years in a row have you resolved to write consistently? Maybe you started a book or article manuscript or even a blog and then lost interest. You started out strong and wrote daily, and then wrote sporadically…and then stopped. Or perhaps you never managed to write consistently enough to get more than a few pages written.

Whatever the case, the fact is that you’ve not followed through on your resolution to write consistently. So, what makes you think this year will be any different?

The only way to create different results in the new year is to do something differently. And for that to happen, you have to be different.

You have to change if you want to change your writing consistency.

Successful Nonfiction Writers Write Consistently

You already know that writing consistency is imperative to becoming a successful nonfiction writer. You can read posts written by any number of writing experts and find the same advice—create a writing schedule and stick to it.

So, you keep promising yourself you will do just that—write consistently on a schedule. And then you don’t.

Have Integrity with Yourself

The reasons why you don’t keep those promises aren’t important. (They are just excuses.) What matters is that you don’t keep your promises to yourself. And each time you fail to keep those promises, it becomes much harder to follow through and write. Your self-esteem plummets with each broken promise, and then you feel as if you aren’t good enough to finish what you start…or to be a successful nonfiction writer.

When you finally become self-integral and keep the promises you make to yourself, you will write consistently. In fact, that’s what success takes: self-integrity.

Commit to Your Writing Schedule

Self-integrity also is tied to your commitment level. If you aren’t committed to your writing or nonfiction writing projects, you won’t keep to any writing schedule. In fact, you’ll let just about anything get in the way of writing.

Therefore, you must evaluate your commitment to writing—whether you want to write an article, essay, blog post, or book. If you had to rank yourself on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest, where would you score your level of commitment?

You will struggle to write consistently if your commitment level is a five or below. If you can raise your score to a six or seven, you will begin to find writing consistently much easier. Raise that score to an eight or nine, and you will have the commitment to write every single day.

A higher degree of commitment helps you become more self-integral.

Obligation or Desire

When you lack the commitment to your writing, writing on a schedule feels like an obligation. But when you are committed to your writing and becoming a successful nonfiction writer, you have the desire to write consistently.

The difference between obligation and desire is enormous. No one likes to feel obligated; that emotion leads to resistance and procrastination. However, if you genuinely want to work on your current writing project, you will dive into the work eagerly and passionately. It will feel fun!

And your readers will be able to tell the difference… You’ll attract a larger audience much faster to your work when you you write because you want to do so.

You are the Problem

By now, you’ve probably realized that the only thing stopping you from writing consistently is you. You are the problem…not the other things that seemingly get in the way of writing on a schedule.

Thus, if you want something to be different in the new year so you find it easy to keep your resolution to write consistently, you have to change.

Changing is not just about muscling through to form a habit. Habits developed by force never stick.

Instead, change is about transforming yourself—who you are being. For example, if you are being “a consistent writer,” you will write consistently. Your habits will align with your identity. And the habit will form naturally and stick long term.

Transform Yourself Into a Consistent (and Successful) Writer

You might wonder how you become a consistent (and successful) writer. After all, you’ve tried to achieve these results in the past but failed.

The answer is simple: focus on your personal growth or development.

You can find tons of information online about how to write and publish successfully. And you can find masses of information on this blog about how to do the same.

You’ll have a harder time finding information on how to transform yourself into a successful writer, author, and blogger. That’s a different topic but one common to succeeding in any endeavor.

Successful people invest loads of time, energy, thought, and money in personal growth. They read books, hire coaches, enroll in programs, and constantly evaluate themselves so they can become someone who can do whatever is necessary to get the result they want: success.

So, if becoming a consistent writer is necessary for your success, you must become a person who writes consistently. Or decide to be a successful writer and author, because such a person would write consistently already. After all, that’s partly how they became successful.

Focus on Your Transformation

For 16 years, I’ve consistently provided blog posts on this site that are chock full of helpful information. My focus has been on writing nonfiction of all sorts and strategies to help you become a successful nonfiction writer in general, including platform building, proposals, and marketing.

Occasionally, I’ve also offered a personal-growth-oriented post. Why? Because that’s the true path to success…and the fastest one, too. I also wrote about this in one chapter in both How to Blog a Book and The Author Training Manual.

Other blogging experts have more to say about how to write a memoir or prescriptive nonfiction book, how to land an agent or publisher, or how to develop a bestselling book marketing plan. But finding writers or authors who can support your efforts to become consistent, productive, courageous, passionate, and influential nonfiction writers are few and far between. In fact, I can’t think of even one writing, blogging, or publishing expert who can help you with the transformation required to succeed in all these arenas. I don’t know any such expert who can help you become the person you need to be to achieve successful authorship.

New Focus for a New Year

And that’s why from this point forward this site will provide information on transforming yourself into a successful nonfiction writer and author using personal development. All posts will offer you the best success strategies and tools based on personal growth.

Why am I qualified to provide this unique writing and publishing approach? If you don’t already know, I’m a transformational coach and a Certified High Performance Coach. I already write about related topics on my primary site; now, I will use my expertise when publishing posts here.

I might occasionally have a guest blogger write about the ins and outs of publishing or writing well. But in general, I plan to offer personal growth for writers since I firmly believe that is the missing link necessary for success.

Be a Successful Writer

You can know everything there is to know about writing and publishing successfully and still not be a successful writer or author. For example, you may have studied writing techniques and understand how important it is to practice your craft consistently. But if you aren’t using any of what you learned, you realize there is more to success than knowledge or craft.

You must use the knowledge you have. And taking action on what you know requires being someone who can put that information to use. When you are someone who does that—including writing consistently, you will succeed.

If you want to increase your writing and publishing success using personal growth strategies, join the Inspired Creator Community. As a member, you will be privy to a results-oriented, science-backed, world-class personal growth curriculum and my proprietary transformational coaching and training program.

The Inspired Creator Community is not a writing membership per se. Its primary focus is on personal and spiritual growth—on transformation. However, as a member, you’ll be able to take advantage of monthly author coaching and all the courses and ebooks in the Nonfiction Writers’ University. (After December 31, 2022, I will no longer offer private author coaching; thus, the Nonfiction Writers’ University offers you the only way to work with me in this capacity.)

Of course, you can continue reading this blog for free. If you have questions or feel challenged, leave me a comment, and I’ll coach you there.

If you have questions about becoming a member of one of my programs? Reach out.

Have you invested in your personal growth and found it helped you succeed as a writer and author—or begin writing consistently? Tell me in a comment below. And please share this post with a friend.

Photo courtesy of tanzimgraphicszone.