Writing Every Day Doesn’t Have to Be as Hard as It Sounds

The key is finding a writing process that works for you

I’ve heard numerous writers and teachers say that if you want to improve your writing you should write every day. “With what time?” I used to think. I was lucky if I wrote once a week and even that was not always possible. But for years I was the kind of writer who if you asked me what I was working on I’d say, “Well, nothing but I have a lot of ideas.”

Over the last few months, I’ve set new writing goals and identified ways to hold myself accountable. Through this, I somehow naturally developed a habit of writing every day. Though I’ve redefined what this means for me.

You Don’t Always Have to Put Words on the Page

I know some writers who do morning and/or evening pages. I wish I could do this, but the idea of setting a goal to do two or three pages each day has never felt real to me. I think this would even work against me as I’d be more focused on filling the pages rather than on the writing itself.

Instead, writing every day to me can mean that I wake up early and get an hour of writing in before I start my day job. It may mean that I jot down ideas as they come to me throughout the day. Or I may spend time outlining my thoughts and brainstorming new topics.

But sometimes I don’t put any words onto the page. And that’s okay. I’m still thinking about writing every day as I’m making dinner, taking a shower, or going on a walk. I think people sometimes forget that writing comes from our thoughts. Your ideas don’t just magically flow through you when your fingers touch the keys of your laptop. A lot of the time I spend on my writing is just thinking through what I want to write about and how I can best tell that story. Once I have this part figured out, then I can start writing.

Trading Old Habits for New Ones

My lifestyle inevitably changed during the pandemic which has granted me more time for writing. However, working a nine-to-five job means I still have to be strategic about how I use my free time.

It used to be that I spent my mornings commuting to work. Then in the evenings, I’d come home and make dinner, watch a few episodes of Netflix and go to bed. The upside of remote work is that it gives me more flexibility to begin and end my days with writing. And while I sometimes would still rather just tune out to the TV, I commit myself to write in some capacity before doing so.

This kind of self-discipline can be difficult. Finding ways to hold yourself accountable is key. For me, I love an old-fashion deadline. If I know I owe a piece to my editor by a certain date, then I can plan when I write in advance. I’ll create a schedule for the week that blocks out certain times to work on the article. And in my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with meeting the deadline at the last second.

Finding Patience and Flexibility

The reality of working on a deadline, however, is that sometimes you miss it. There are times when life feels too crazy to work through all the thoughts in my head in one afternoon. And it can be frustrating when the words just aren’t coming together with the way you want them to or aren’t coming out at all.

In these times I just try to be patient. I believe some words on the page are better than none. The editing process is where you refine what you’re trying to say. Editing gets a bad rap, but I enjoy reviewing my writing and finding ways to make it better. I regularly have four or five drafts, sometimes more, of any given piece before I get to a final version. Writing is a process and we have to give ourselves permission to see it all the way through.

The best advice I can give is to find what works for you. Your writing process can and should be entirely your own, which can mean writing every day or just doing what you can.

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