If you want to improve, start a daily practice.

Do you want to build skills in something? Want to be a better writer? Painter? Musician? Welder? If you do, start a project. It sounds pedantic, but it’s the truth. Do something daily. Practice again and again. You’ll be amazed at what you achieve. Below, you can see my tale of how built my writing skills.

It’s been almost ten years! Wow. In 2010, I decided to improve my fiction-writing skills. I was in the middle of writing my first fiction book, “The Fiddler’s Talisman.” And I wanted to get better. I wanted to be a good enough writer to tell the story I wanted to tell. To do that right, I needed to up my game.

But how?

I could have taken classes. But I realized that I learn best by doing. So, I embarked on a year-long project. I wrote a micro-story every day for a year. The trick was I gave myself only a single minute to write each story. I could edit after the minute of writing. But I had to complete the actual tale in one minute.

Improve Skills Daily

To get my creative juices flowing, I used a prompt word and a timer. Today, on the release of my sixth book, I went back to those tiny stories and re-read a bunch of them. The improvement from the first few to the last few surprises me. Some of those 365 stories are good. Really good. In fact, some were fab enough that I turned them into screenplays. And then several actors I knew from the DC area starred in them. My two favorites are “A Close Shave?” and “Career Suicide.” You can see the videos below.

Why am I writing about this today? It’s to encourage you to do your own project. If there’s a skill you want to build, set aside time every day and do it. It doesn’t have to take long. Mine took about five minutes a day. Do some small measure of it if that’s all the time you can spare. And make yourself accountable. I posted every story on Facebook. People read them and gave me feedback. Eventually, they also submitted prompt words I could use. Working with others motivated me to continue.

I’m a different writer today because of the work I did then. Conscious, consistent practice will change your life.

You’ll build skills. And you’ll probably create something great!