Do You Really Have to Write Everyday?

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But do I really have to write every day? Yes. Yes, you do. Yes. I heard someone say there are no absolutes in writing. But in this one case, for myself and others I write with, I disagree. We need to touch our stories every day.  

Kids? Sickness? Job changes? Yes, write every day. Global pandemic? Write. Rejections? Write. Write. Write. 

You should read all the time. Taking in other people’s stories. Rolling them around in your mind. What worked? What didn’t? Dance in the language's rhythm. It’s one of the best ways to hone your craft. 

But the other half is to write. Lots and lots of writing.  

After Nano every year, I waffle on writing. My spirit is empty and needs a refill. After reading and resting, I get back to my story. Except now it doesn’t seem as alive in my mind. I stopped writing in the middle of a scene. Now I don’t remember what I was trying to say.  

I’ll check my notecards then compare them to my rough outline. The writing should be easy since I’m less than twenty thousand to the end, but I can’t figure out how I wanted to get there. I let the work rest for too long.  

When I'm writing every day, my story thrums in my mind. I’ll be paying a bill and think about the how I need to make sure the hero is making a wrong move. Or that the heroine is a bit of a brat and needs a personality lift.  

Coming back to the page after a break is a struggle. It will take me several writing sessions to get back in the grove. Time wasted and super inefficient, right?  

Why do we struggle to get to the story every twenty-four hours? It’s easy. With the access to technology, most of us can write from anywhere, anytime and have it sync with a master document. I’ve got an acquaintance who has decided she creates a better story with a ballpoint pen and a yellow legal pad. It’s hard to think of a circumstance where you wouldn’t be able to write anywhere you are. 

Alexey Lin

All writers come to the page from different perspectives. Vacations relax and refill the creative well. Argue with me over time off or your set of circumstances. But all roads lead back to you must write with consistency.

You're the unique writer with a story that needs to be told. Live in your world. I don’t know many writers who don’t think about their stories all the time. I’ve added more side characters than I can count after watching people in a doctor’s office waiting room. I make up all kinds of stories about them. Then I give them life in my own pages.  

There is a gigantic tree in front of our house. It’s been in at least four books that I can remember. There are a family of squirrels who run up and down it. Their tails twitch as they stare at me from a branch. I wonder what they think of us? That squirrel family showed up in two books.  

Everything gets added to my books because I’m always writing them in my head. All day long. And sometimes all night as I stare at the ceiling and wish my head would turn off long enough for me to rest.  

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I’m a better writer when I practice my craft at least for one fifteen-minute sprint every day. That’s not a huge chunk of time, right? Turn off whatever distraction you’re taking part in and give yourself a fifteen-minute timer. Write. Then stop. That’s fine. You can come back tomorrow. Unless you want to keep going. And if you’re in your own story world, you’ll keep going for another sprint or two.  

Do you have fifteen minutes? I bet you do. Go ahead. Tell me you don’t. We can talk about the scrolling on your phone and watching a show. We all have distractions. Make a choice. Carve out fifteen minutes and let your story tell itself.  

Practice makes perfectly imperfect.