Why you should NOT write every day

The first thing I ever heard in my first writing workshop was, “If you want to be a writer, you should write every day.” I interpreted this as If you want to be a published author, you must be utterly obsessed with writing. Since then, I’ve consistently heard variations on that refrain from workshop leaders, teachers, and published writers. Write for 15 minutes a day, write three handwritten pages a day, write a poem a day. 

No matter what anyone tells you, there is no single path to writing success.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of doing anything every single day (except eating) makes me want to jump off a bridge. Some people love that kind of structure. That’s awesome. But I despise that kind of routine. It sucks the creativity right out of my being. No matter what anyone tells you, there is no single path to writing success.

Like cult leaders, some people will preach that their way is the only way to achieve salvation, find god, or become a world-renowned author. No. No, it isn’t. They are as human as you are. They don’t know any better than you do what will work for you. Great if it worked for them. That doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. 

The Writers’ Downward Spiral

I have been working with aspiring writers for the better part of 20 years. I’ve been coaching them for more than ten years. If there is one thing I know for sure, it’s that telling yourself you must write every day is a sure way to spiral into burnout. Here is how it goes: 

• A writer tells themselves they must write every day to be worth anything
• They do it for three or four days and feel like they are accomplishing something. 
• Life throws them a complication, and they don’t or can’t write for a day because, like all humans, they need sleep and downtime. 
• They spend the rest of the day mentally beating themselves up for missing a day. 
• They attach pain to writing (a mind-body coach would tell you the body receives a mental beating in the same way as a physical beating).  
• They slip into a minor depressed state and don’t write the next day. Or the next. Or the next. 
• Months go by, and they haven’t written a thing. And why would they? They know that life will happen again in a few days or a week, and they won’t be able to write again, and this cycle will repeat. 

Writing consistency is more important than frequency

I tell my writers NOT to write every day. 

Here’s why:

First, even people who work full-time get two days off a week. 

Second, consistency is far more important than frequency. If you have a busy life, as most of us do, and you only have time to sit down every Saturday at 3 pm, then write every Saturday at 3 pm. Devote yourself to that. If it doesn’t work, find another time that might work. If you have time every M-W-F morning, then use that time. Don’t be afraid to adjust. I have a client who finished an entire trilogy of books by writing only every Sunday morning. 

Third, consider measuring your progress by word count. Start low, with perhaps 50 words a session. Then increase if you want to. If measuring your session by time works for you, then do that. But again, start low. It’s all about figuring out what works for YOU. I had one client who would only commit to a sentence a day. Several months later, she presented me with the first half of her story. I have helped many writers get through their first drafts this way. I know that it works.

So the next time someone tells you that you have to write every day, in your brain, add this clause to the end of the saying: …if that works for you. Write every day if that works for you. If it doesn’t, figure out what does. It’s okay to build your schedule with as little or as much as you can manage. Consistency is key. Give yourself time off from writing. And above all, do not beat yourself up for missing a session.