Habit of Mind: Metacognition by Bailey Lang
Let’s welcome back Bailey Lang as she shares with us “Habit of Mind: Metacognition.” Enjoy!
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As we wrap up this article series on the eight habits of mind writers can use to strengthen their creative practices, we’re going to focus on one of my favorite habits.
This habit acts like a golden thread that ties all the others together.
You can practice it on its own and pair it with the other mindset shifts we’ve explored to turbocharge their effectiveness.
The final habit on our list is metacognition.
What is Metacognition?
Many of the mental habits we’ve talked about are pretty obvious-sounding: creativity.
Curiosity.
Persistence.
All important tools to have in your writer’s toolbox!
Fewer people are familiar with the idea of metacognition.
It refers to the ability to think about your own thinking.
That might not clear things up all that much, but you might be surprised by how often you’re already practicing this skill!
Do you practice mindfulness meditation?
Do you write Morning Pages?
Do you keep a journal?
Those are all forms of metacognition, because they allow you to reflect on what you think, how you think, and why you think that way.
The Framework for Success on which this article series is based further defines metacognition as a practice of reflecting on “the individual and cultural processes used to structure knowledge.”
This type of metacognition might look like gathering several books in your genre and analyzing them, or assessing your own writing practices — what works?
What doesn’t?
Metacognition enables us, as writers, to be intentional about our thoughts and actions.
It helps us recognize patterns, adjust our mindset, and improve our writing more quickly.
How Do Writers Practice Metacognition?
Working on metacognition is essential for writers.
As mentioned above, metacognition is something you can practice on its own or in conjunction with another one of the habits we’ve already talked about.
Keeping a daily journal or writing Morning Pages is a great way to start working on metacognition by itself.
Focus on writing about your thoughts.
What do you notice about how you think?
What patterns show up after you’ve been tracking and reflecting on your thinking for a few days?
The more familiar you get with your thoughts, the quicker you will catch mindset gremlins like impostor syndrome, procrastination, and distraction.
You’ll start to recognize the thought patterns that derail your writing before the train is completely off the tracks, and take back the power to direct your thoughts where you’d like them to go (ideally, to your writing!).
Pairing metacognition with another habit of mind is a way to turbocharge both of them.
In the previous article in this series, we explored flexibility as a habit of mind.
Flexibility is about responding to changing circumstances, seeking alternate paths to your goals, and adjusting your perspective when you need to.
How do you know if you’re doing those things?
Metacognition!
The next time a situation arises that requires some flexibility, you can also practice metacognition.
Notice what you’re thinking during that situation — are you feeling frustrated and reactive, or open and adaptable?
What thought patterns are keeping you stuck, and which mindset shifts help you move toward flexibility?
Metacognition combined with other habits of mind can help you build new mental skills and recognize the progress you’re making.
Metacognitive Activities for Writers
Cultivating your ability to think about your own thinking and to assess your writing practices can help you level up your skills and confidence.
The goal of metacognitive work isn’t to navel-gaze, but to get intentional about your thoughts.
A limited or self-defeating mindset won’t change unless you recognize what’s going on and take steps toward shifting it.
Metacognition is your power tool for making that change.
As you gain insights into your habitual ways of thinking, you can make conscious decisions about what you want to adjust and how you want to pair metacognition with the other habits of mind.
You can start simply.
Reflection questions are a great way to prompt metacognition, especially as part of a journaling practice.
- What do I notice about my internal dialogue, especially when it comes to my writing?
- How do I think/talk to myself when I am facing a writing challenge?
- What influences my thinking?
- What choices am I making in my writing? Why?
Starting to practice metacognition will help you identify areas of your writing practice where you might want to focus on growth, self-kindness, and increased engagement.
The following activities address the different elements of metacognition.
The first focuses on assessing your own thinking and behaviors, and the second looks more closely at context and external influences.
Perform a Practice Analysis
A great metacognitive activity for writers is to analyze your writing practices.
Many of us build our writing practices by default — based on common pieces of writing advice we hear all the time (“write every day”) or the habits we built in school (waiting until there’s a deadline and then rushing to cram in all the writing at once).
We don’t often stop to audit our writing practices or think about how they could be improved.
Taking some time to do this analysis is a powerful metacognitive activity that can transform your approach to writing.
All it takes is time and a willingness to be honest with yourself.
Here are some questions you can ask as part of this analysis.
- What does your writing practice look like right now? How often are you writing? How much writing do you get done?
- How do you feel about your writing practice right now? What emotions come up when you think about sitting down to write?
- Why does your writing practice look this way? What past experiences or advice are you drawing on?
- Does your writing practice feel effective? Why or why not?
- What’s working really well? What is holding you back?
- How might you want to change your writing practice going forward?
Take some time to dig into what’s going on under the hood of your writing practice.
Bring your assumptions and unstated beliefs about writing to the surface and examine them in the clear light of day.
Which of those beliefs supports you?
Which ones come with baggage attached?
As you reflect on your writing practice, you can give yourself permission to imagine new ways of writing that best serve your creativity and your energy.
Become a Genre Detective
Another important aspect of metacognition is understanding how writing works in different contexts — what processes, outcomes, and expectations are attached to writing short stories vs. epic fantasy, or science fiction vs. scientific communication?
Reflecting on elements like genre conventions, common tropes, publishing trends, and audience expectations can help you make deliberate choices about your approach to writing and publishing.
Becoming a genre detective is one way to practice this form of metacognition, and it can be a lot of fun!
Here’s how it can work:
Go to your local library and check out three to five books in the genre you write most frequently. (If nothing else, this activity is a great excuse to visit your library!)
Read and analyze those books, focusing on elements like:
- Structure and format—what do they have in common? What do they do differently from one another?
- Genre conventions and tropes—what do you notice about themes, settings, characters, or approaches to writing? Who adheres to the conventions and who upends them? Why?
- Publishing trends—when were the books released? How are they similar to other books released around the same time? What changed over time? Think about elements like cover art, blurbs, topics, genres and subgenres.
- Audience expectations—were the books well-received by readers? What types of reviews did they get? What common themes do you notice in positive and negative reviews?
This type of metacognitive work is about deepening your understanding of the broader context you’re writing in and what makes writing successful or unsuccessful in your genre.
As you build your library of genre knowledge, you will also sharpen your ability to make decisions about your writing practice, how you want to improve your craft, and the publishing opportunities you pursue.
Metacognition is a powerful tool!
Reading Recommendations
- Creative Acts for Curious People (affiliate link)
- How to Think More and Better (affiliate link)
- Sit with Me: A No-BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation (affiliate link)
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About the Author
Dr. Bailey Lang is a book coach, writer, and editor.
At The Writing Desk, she helps authors build sustainable, enjoyable writing practices that take their books from draft to done.
Bailey has a PhD in rhetoric and writing studies and loves geeking out about writing.
You can sign up for Bailey’s free newsletter, Word to the Wise, for more writing advice and regular author interviews.
