I Write Every Single Day, Unless I Don’t
When I first decided to try writing fiction, I squeezed it in where I could, here and there, maybe a few times a week. But, I soon discovered that, damn, it takes a really long time to write a book. And a vision seeped in: one of me, writing this same one book, until the day I died, without any work ever released out into the world.
Thankfully, logic ultimately prevailed: Time in inevitably had to eventually result in a book out the other side. It just had to.
Each time I sat down to write, I put another drop or two into the bucket. Eventually it would fill into an actual book.
Thus, I realized, I must find a way to put those drops in the bucket more reliably.
This is how I came to set the habit of waking up early and writing every single day. This is the practice through which I could convince myself that all this work would eventually amount to something real.
And, that book did eventually get finished and even published. And a few others since then, too!
And thank goodness I set this habit, because it turns out that defeated feeling of “I will be stuck writing this one book until I die” is part of the creative process I feel with every. single. book.Having this system in place allows me to trust the process despite this feeling.
I’ve also found that, true to the widespread advice doled out to every writer since perhaps the beginning of time, writing every day keeps my head in the manuscript — even if one day’s writing only adds a hundred words, or even if I leave my writing session sure that day’s work was absolute crap, it still keeps the story humming in the back of my brain while I live the rest of my life, so that it’s always building, always moving forward.
So, YMMV, but the rule of writing every single day is one I’ve sworn by as an author.
Except when I just … don’t.
After treating my brain like a machine for years, more recently, I’ve found myself resisting this constant churn. Maybe it’s the pandemic. Maybe it’s just like responsibilities asking more of me as my career advances. Maybe it’s getting older. Maybe it’s the burnout catching up to me finally. Maybe it’s … honestly it doesn’t matter why. The exhaustion is. And I’ve finally started listening to it.
So even though I still believe in writing every day, when I hit that wall, I listen to it.
It seems to happen at high-pressure moments, like when something major is stretching my work hours beyond normal, or when I’m launching another books, or, such as right now, when I’m preparing for a major life event like a move. These things take a toll. Take the time to recharge or your creativity will tap out completely.
The real trick, of course, is knowing the difference between creative block or other types of resistance creatives run into, and true burnout and self care. It takes a little trial and error, and learning to be attuned to your body and mind. But only you can really determine what the right balance is.
