A.L. Heard

I’m one of those writers who likes to be consistent. I don’t necessarily need to write every day, but I do want to write or do writing-adjacent activities on a regular basis. Whether I’m editing, outlining, writing, whatever, I don’t want to go too long without doing SOMETHING or, like anything, it becomes hard to get back into that routine.

One of the ways I find to motivate myself is through bingos. I love bingos because by design variety is built into it, and that means I can make changes to my routine when I feel like I’m getting stuck. At the start of 2025, I decided I’d use bingos to help my writing, and each month I’ve been putting out a bingo board for writers.

I print out a copy and use it help spice up my daily routine. My favorite part: it also gives me a nice little dopamine boost at the end of the day when I get to check something off.

Each month, I put in tasks that are generally helpful (add words to a WIP, complete a chapter, edit, etc), tasks I know I’ll do anyway (use a thesaurus, make tea before writing, etc), and things I want to push myself to do (try a new type of scene, work on covers, beta read, etc). And it’s not always actual writing — writing adjacent activities like reading, playlists, and moodboards are important too! 

If you’re an author and interested in my bingos, here are some of my old ones and the brand new one for July. If you think this is something you might want to keep doing throughout the year, I post the new bingo board each month on my BlueSky account!

And remember: it’s for fun! If this doesn’t work for you or if you find it stressful, then don’t worry about it! And if you don’t get a bingo, no worries! Any progress is progress—I’ve never gotten a blackout board, and as long as I can mark things off throughout the week, I’m satisfied I’m doing what I need to 🙂

What tasks do you think I’m missing or need more of in my bingo cards?