1. Writing the same story with the same characters over and over again.
2. Writing more than you read. (There should be an “almost” equal balance.)
3. Not putting your work out there because you’re afraid of being judged.
4. Only writing when you “feel like it.”
5. Waiting until the last hour of your day to try to get some writing done.
6. Trying to write at a time of day someone else said is ideal, instead of when it’s most productive/convenient for you.
7. Grabbing at every single writing opportunity that comes your way. (There IS such thing as too much!)
8. Not going after the writing opportunities you really want because you “might not be good enough.”
9. Listening to writing advice from people who don’t do much actual writing.
10. Believing writing myths like “you have to write every day” and letting yourself struggle because of it.
11. Being afraid to admit that writing is hard and not always easy.
12. Refusing to take breaks or take the occasional night/weekend off. Hey, if you work hard and write often, you deserve all the rest.
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is an editor and writer, and a 12-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food, and Star Wars.
Meg Dowell Writes 
Really like this post- I needed to read some of those points and really think about them!
I have a friend who is working on a 20+ book series and recent books have been twice as long as they should be. I pointed out #1 to him a while back. His defense is the nonsense, since the same plots, tropes, etc. are happening to different characters, it’s not the same thing. He ran out of plots, tropes, character types around book 4, and he’s on book 6 now.
Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this helpful post from the Novelty Revisions blog with 12 Bad Writing Habits You Should Break This Year
Reblogged this on Claire Plaisted – Author and commented:
Good Points