When I first started writing again I was real strict about a thousand words a day. Now I just try to set aside at least an hour. Maybe it'll turn into four or six, maybe it won't, maybe I'll just spend time editing and revising and such. And then maybe ill open my gdocs app and put down or delete a few words while I'm at the grocery store or something. Writing is something you gotta do daily - as clpolk said, its like exercise.
I know that "write every day" can lead some people to compare their performance to someone else's standard, and I know that writing every day taken literally can come off as ableist through erasure...
But if you're trying to improve your craft, if you're aiming for a goal beyond "writing is a fun way to blow off steam," a daily writing routine is such a valuable way to become better at writing that I just can't blow it off.
And I don't write every day. I take "vacations." in between phases of a project I take time off where I don't write fiction at all. I usually take two weeks to a month. but if I'm not on vacation and I have a project, I do write every day. seven days a week. Christmas, the 1st of July, my birthday, it doesn't matter. If I have a project to work on, then I'm writing, every day, 1000 words per day minimum.
Because writing is like running, or working out, or physical exercise - regular practice keeps you at a certain level, or improving, but when you have to stop, it gets harder to start, and you have to keep at it to get back up to the level you were at before. I take breaks because my disability makes me more prone to burnouts and anxiety, so I pay the price with crappy words and a reduced focus level when I start writing again.
but when you have to stop, it gets harder to start
This is the biggest port of it for me. It's so easy to get in the habit of not writing, and then it's hard to start again. At the beginning of the year, I took a long break (2 months). I feel like I'm still struggling to get back into the habit. Before that I went almost three years writing pretty consistently. Definitely not every day, but there weren't any long empty stretches.
It definitely does get harder to start back when you take breaks. For me I can't take more than a day here or there or else I have a really hard time getting back into it. So I don't necessarily write new words every day, but I'm revising, editing, or something writing related pretty much every day.
Aw thanks so much for sharing our article! xoxoxo
When I first started writing again I was real strict about a thousand words a day. Now I just try to set aside at least an hour. Maybe it'll turn into four or six, maybe it won't, maybe I'll just spend time editing and revising and such. And then maybe ill open my gdocs app and put down or delete a few words while I'm at the grocery store or something. Writing is something you gotta do daily - as clpolk said, its like exercise.
I know that "write every day" can lead some people to compare their performance to someone else's standard, and I know that writing every day taken literally can come off as ableist through erasure...
But if you're trying to improve your craft, if you're aiming for a goal beyond "writing is a fun way to blow off steam," a daily writing routine is such a valuable way to become better at writing that I just can't blow it off.
And I don't write every day. I take "vacations." in between phases of a project I take time off where I don't write fiction at all. I usually take two weeks to a month. but if I'm not on vacation and I have a project, I do write every day. seven days a week. Christmas, the 1st of July, my birthday, it doesn't matter. If I have a project to work on, then I'm writing, every day, 1000 words per day minimum.
Because writing is like running, or working out, or physical exercise - regular practice keeps you at a certain level, or improving, but when you have to stop, it gets harder to start, and you have to keep at it to get back up to the level you were at before. I take breaks because my disability makes me more prone to burnouts and anxiety, so I pay the price with crappy words and a reduced focus level when I start writing again.
This is the biggest port of it for me. It's so easy to get in the habit of not writing, and then it's hard to start again. At the beginning of the year, I took a long break (2 months). I feel like I'm still struggling to get back into the habit. Before that I went almost three years writing pretty consistently. Definitely not every day, but there weren't any long empty stretches.
It definitely does get harder to start back when you take breaks. For me I can't take more than a day here or there or else I have a really hard time getting back into it. So I don't necessarily write new words every day, but I'm revising, editing, or something writing related pretty much every day.