Regularity Pays

The phone pinged. My wife looked at the text. She broke out into laughter.

It was the owner of my comic shop. She hadn’t seen us in two weeks, and she wanted to make sure we were okay.

Well. I’m a little embarrassed!

See, I’m usually at my comic shop Thursday late morning or early afternoon. Last week I didn’t go because there were no comics out that I wanted to pick up. (You can check what comics are out every single week at Diamond Comics.) This week I didn’t go in the morning or early afternoon because of appointments I had in my regular capacity as a minister.

And when I didn’t come at the normal time today, the owner worried.

The owner’s an awesome person. My wife and I often go in together, even though my wife is not interested in most of the things sold at the comic shop. We’ll chat with the owner for quite a while. We don’t talk about the comics, either. Nor do we typically talk about our problems; we ask how the owner’s doing.

And that probably sets us apart.

I used to work at a comic shop back in the day. It was shocking how many people treated the place like a bar. They’d come in and start talking about all the comics. (I didn’t read them all. I’d often just ask them about current storylines and what they thought.) And soon enough I’d learn… a lot about their lives. I really should have started serving alcoholic drinks.

Anyway.

The owner of my shop is an awesome person, and we’ve gotten to be relatively close with her. And when we didn’t show up like normal… she noticed. And she was worried. She knows I’ve had some health problems and have depression. So she texted my wife to make sure we were okay.

First off, it’s awesome to be cared about that way. And before you might think: Yes, she’s a businesswoman, but she didn’t text for the money. We do not spend that much money there! She actually cares, and for that I’m incredibly grateful!

But it also shows the benefits of holding to a definite schedule: When you don’t follow it, people notice, and they express concern.

So, why am I writing about this on a writing blog?

Look, regularity helps writing. When you set up that you’re going to write from nine to ten every weeknight, your mind learns from it if you keep to that schedule When you have that regularity, your mind is “formatted” to create at that time of day. You’ll be able to slip into writing mode so much faster, and as you grow in your writing, what you write will be higher and higher quality.

And just like when I didn’t show up at my comic shop, when you don’t write, your mind says, “Wait a second. Aren’t we supposed to be writing?”

You can write randomly throughout the day if you’d like. You can write well that way. But I’m convinced you’ll write better if you hold to a steady schedule.

And like I said: If you waver from that schedule, your mind will notice and poke you a little bit.

Hey. You should be writing. Are you okay?