One of the pieces of advice I often hear given to writers is that they need to write every single day. Events like NaNoWriMo, which I might add, I absolutely love and encourage people to try, are geared towards helping to build a habit of daily writing. I absolutely agree that you should be striving to write as regularly as possible. However, I disagree with the unspoken rule that says that ‘real’ writers write every single day. Daily writing works for some people, and that is great. I think it is a fantastic habit. But I don’t believe it is necessary for every writer.
There are of course, many very good reasons as to why you should try to write regularly if you can. The more often you write, the more you practice your skills, and the better at writing you will become. The more often you write, the easier it becomes to get into the right headspace for writing. And of course, the more often you write, the more you write, and the more progress you make in your book. These are all great reasons to make a habit of writing a regularly as possible. But that doesn’t necessarily equate to needing to write every single day.
For one thing, unless you are a full time writer, most people don’t always have that much time in their day to dedicate to writing, especially if you have a full time job, or you’re studying. When I was in uni, there were a lot of days I didn’t have time to write because assignments, lectures, and other coursework took up my precious hours. You may have similar commitments. Some days there just isn’t spare time to dedicate to writing. And in order to scrape a few minutes to keep their writing streaks going, people will skip sleep, or study time, or much needed relaxation and self-care in order to get out a few words.
There are also days when we’re literally unable to write because of exhaustion, mental health, or other reasons not related to time. If it’s just common or garden laziness, you could definitely stand to push yourself a little harder. But that’s not always the case. In fact, writing can become super stressful, specially when we’re beating ourselves up for missing a day of writing because we’re ‘weak’. You’re not weak if you don’t write because you’re literally too tired to see straight or if your mental health isn’t great. We do this because we love writing, not because we’re slaves to it.
It’s also a very limited view of writing. Every writer is different and works in a different way. Systems that work for some writers will not work for others. Just like some people like to plan their books extensively in advance and other like to jump in with both feet clutching just the barest concept of a plot, so too some writers benefit from writing every day and others may only write a few times a week. Writing fits into life wherever it can. We’re all different, and you can’t put writers in a box that says they must write every day if they want to measure up.
Plus, even some professional writers don’t write every day. If you follow many full time writers on Twitter, or read their blogs, you’ll be sure to hear of times when they take a day off from writing to deal with admin, or they take a few days to batch blog posts or podcast episodes and don’t write at all, or if they have to take a day off just for themselves. They’re not bound by this mythical daily writing rule, and they are most definitely ‘real’ writers. If they don’t have to measure up to this invisible standard, then why should you?
I believe that writers should aim to write regularly. And I definitely believe that writers should strive to be disciplined with their writing. But if daily writing doesn’t fit into your life, that’s ok too. You need to follow your own writing path. You need to prioritise your life, your rest, and your health. Don’t be fooled into believing that ‘real’ writers have to write every day. Writing needs to be fun, and writing needs to fit into your life wherever it is convenient to you. As long as you are writing, you’re doing everything you need to be.
