Great question, Billy. When people talk about “discipline” I feel like they’re referring to a quick fix or a magic bullet solution. Like if you have the right system in place, somehow magically the writing gets done.

Practice isn’t about systems, it’s about hard work and habit. You just do it. Again and again. And sometimes it’s easy, but most of the time it just bites and you have to do it anyway.

Discipline feels very cerebral to me, like you can somehow reason your way through it. Yes, strategies and systems can help, but in the end, to build a writing practice you have to stick to it for days, weeks, months, even years. That’s not a cerebral thing, it’s a gut thing. You just do it.