If you’ve been doing NaNo for 3 weeks now, guess what? You’ve made a habit of writing. This is a good thing because it’s our habits that shape our lives. Habits are decisions we make by reflex. Sometimes that works against us, but if we put in a consistent 3 weeks of different behavior, we can make it work for us, by establishing new habit patterns.

I developed the habit of daily writing when I was 12. It’s been a constant in my adult life. Unfortunately, when I started publishing regularly I found myself writing more and crowding out other habits. And eventually the lessening of those habits impacts writing.

Over the last year I had to re-establish the habit of reading. Of doing something, anything fun and creative that wasn’t writing. Of playing with words the way I used to, instead of thinking all writing must be professional. Being social.

And for the last 3 weeks, I’ve been re-establishing good eating and workout habits. Because without good health, I’m not going to be the writer I want to be. (Not to mention being at risk for all sorts of problems I do not want.) I’ve lost almost ten pounds, gained muscle, and have better energy and concentration.

I used a plan that I could easily follow every day to help me build better habits; I signed up for Slim-Fast. You put in your weight goal, your activity level, and it gives you an eating plan to follow that’s a balanced diet. If you’ve gotten out of the habit of balanced eating, it’s helpful to be shown what it looks like. What a 500 calorie dinner looks like. I get reminded to drink 8 glasses of water and walk for 30 minutes and eat my vegetables. Yes, I needed to be reminded. I’d gotten out of the habit.

Now instead of putting on the 2nd pot of coffee by 9 in the morning, I might have my 2nd cup. So I won’t join Balzac in producing a lot of words and then dying of caffeine poisoning.

It’s been an adjustment, but building new habits always is. Once we’ve built them, momentum is on our side. After the 3 week mark, habit helps maintain the new behavior that helps us make our lives look more like what we want them to be instead of what we wished they were.