How to write every day (and other myths)

Writing and teaching writing: story of my life

Writing my way to completion

Often students will ask me if I write every day. I sometimes say, "oh yes, just like I exercise every day." Truth is that I try to move my body every day but I don't always do it. With writing it's a similar thing. I love writing and try to make a point of writing every morning. I mostly do that and it's taken months and years to get to the stage where I mostly do it. That's the thing with writing (like exercising), it's a process of making a regular habit out of it.

How to make writing a habit

Like anything you want to do regularly, writing demands patience and stick-to-it-iveness. If you want to have toned arms and legs, you're not going to wish these into reality. It takes days, months, and longer of going to the gym, running, rowing--whatever it is that you enjoy and that will give you the result you desire at the end. And as you know, once you've achieved the toned arms and legs, you must keep up with the training to maintain your level of fitness. Writing is similar.

Once you've completed your book--if that's what you're going for--you still need to keep writing and editing, because a work of fiction or non-fiction takes several drafts before it's finished. Not even seasoned writers expect to get to the end of writing their book with no re-writes. My novel took seven drafts before my agent and I were happy with it.

How often you write depends on many things

Perhaps you feel more creative at night while the world sleeps. I used to be a night owl, but for the past 15 years have found I'm more creative in the early morning. I can still write in the evening but it's a slog and I may not produce as much, or like what I've written.

When I write in the morning, I'm able to get more down on the page and what I write is more pleasing to me. I can get into the flow of the story more readily without wrestling with my scenes, characters, and so on. To me, that's worth it's weight in writing gold. Why would I write in the evening when a morning writing routine is less effort?

Here are a few questions to ask yourself so that you can get down to the business of writing and complete your writing goals.

1. What time of day are you most creative and most productive?

2. Given your work, family responsibilities, and other daily tasks, when are you able to write?

3. What writing goal can you set for yourself this week that's measurable and achievable?

4. Where do you write best? (e.g., quiet room, café, library)

5. What distracts you most, and how can you minimize those distractions?

6. What does your ideal writing session look like? (e.g., length, structure, tools)

7. How will you hold yourself accountable to your goal?

Because I know that morning is the best time for me to write, I often get up before work inches into my time. Over the years I've adjusted other things in my life because the morning writing routine doesn't budge. I also know that if I have a particuarly busy work week, I need to give myself a minimum amount of writing time to feel like I'm moving ahead. Sometimes this is three hours in a given week. Not my ideal, but it saves me from feeliing stuck.

Take a few minutes to answer these questions. Be honest with yourself. Just remember that you don't have to write every day and that consistency is key.