Writing Practice 47: Hold on a second

There are THREE things that need practice, effort and attention when it comes to doing what I'm trying to do.

1) I have to spend time with my story and my characters.
2) I have to practice the craft of writing
3) I have to practice getting myself to write

Writing the brainstorm is a brilliant method, because it means I'm practicing the craft of writing while I spend time with my story and my characters.

I'm not having too much trouble with number three, which makes me think I should be giving it extra attention.
I would hate to see number 3 as a standard, not feed it and have that part of me die.
If number 3 is where I want it to be, I should ensure that it stays that way. I should be giving more attention to maintaining it.

See, if I think it's important and I feel it's happening, it's even more important to maintain it.
I should be coming up with new and creative ways to inspire myself to write.
Now that it's there, I need to NOT relax about it.

That's my biggest problem with relationships. People work to get what they want, then relax and see how long it lasts, or, they just forget about it and it dies naturally.

I cannot fall victim to this concept, especially since it involves writing.

As for 1 and 2, I'm not so sure I'm fully satisfied with saying that I'm practicing the craft of writing just because I'm writing the brainstorm of my idea.

That's good, and I'm glad that the end result of writing my brainstorm has me practicing writing.
But I'm practicing in just one way.
I'm always brainstorming in my own voice, and I'm not really pushing myself to practice the craft of writing.
I cannot let myself accept that it's "good enough" practice just to be writing out this brainstorm.

I should start alternating my entries.
I should be brainstorming with one entry, then practicing craft with another.
I will, however, accept that my brainstorm is writing practice if I kick up the craft of my brainstorm to another level.
I shouldn't just be writing to practice.
I should be practicing to get better.

So, I either have to better craft my brainstorms with what I consider to be more impressive writing (I.E. I should be practicing to improve the language and flow of each brainstorm) OR I should simply be taking little "warm up" breaks.

In fact, if an athlete warms up before a race, maybe I should warm up before each brainstorm.

Poetry, language, word-craft, whatever.
I should get myself inspired to write in creative ways, then, warm up, THEN do my writing.

This is tough.
That's how I know it's good for me.