The Qualities of a Good Writer: 5 Personal Work Habits a Good Writer Needs

There is a difference between being a talented writer and being a good writer.

Talented writers can write well. They can tell a story well. They can explain a process or opinion well. A talented writer can use words correctly, yet knows when words should be misused for greatest effect. A talented writer knows what the target reader wants from a book. A talented writer can spell correctly. A talented writer can put words together in seemingly endless patterns.

The difference is that good writers do it.

Ultimately, good writers sit down and write. Talented writers simply carry their talents in the baggage of their daily existence.

But what are the work habits that allow talented writers to become good writers?

The first is that a good writer must be willing to schedule time to write. Writing is hard work. And if you don’t schedule the time, you will always find other things to do. Things like reading, which is much easier and more enjoyable. Or sit in a coffee shop and pretend to be researching life on the street.

Second, a writer must be able to focus on the task at hand. Thoughts have a habit of fading as you sit staring at the blank page. Blank pages are the enemy of the good writer. They should be filled with letters and words and sentences and in their time paragraphs. But to do that, you need to be able to focus on writing the words on the page. Disciplined enough to avoid those lost thoughts that are inevitably more interesting than the ones you’re writing on the page.

Third, a writer must be able to focus on what he is doing. Focus is your mental compass … directing your mind toward your writing and away from lost thoughts. But concentration is your ability to ignore external stimuli. The noise from the cafeteria. The car horn on the street outside his office window. The sun on your face and the gentle breeze. Or the smoke from the barbecue. A good writer needs to be disciplined enough to keep writing despite the desire to escape to the inner universe or the outer world.

Fourth, a writer must be willing enough to ignore interruptions. It is not enough that you want to escape into your own world, either inside or outside. But there are people around you who seem determined to stop your creativity. Let’s be positive, perhaps not intentionally. Although they certainly seem to be persistent if not intentionally. A good writer must be strong enough to say, “This is MY time to write. You must not meddle.”

And strong enough to stick.

Finally, for this article at least, a writer must be willing to practice and critique the results. After all, if you don’t practice, you won’t improve. And if you don’t know where you are making mistakes, you will never correct them.