Why I Don’t Write Every Day (And Why You Don’t Have To, Either)

How many times have you heard the old myth that you must write every single day in order to truly be a writer?

Dozens of times? Hundreds? More?

It’s one of the most-shared pieces of advice that I’ve heard in my thirteen plus years studying writing and I’m sure you’ve come across it many times yourself, too. It’s as pervasive as the tip to read voraciously.

The problem with saying writers must write daily isn’t that it’s wrong. The problem is that it generalizes all writers and fails to acknowledge the reality that every writer is different.

The other problem is that it creates a standard you may not be able to reach, and the resulting feeling of failure can be a huge block for some people. You might even feel shame if you aren’t a daily writer, and that’s just silly.

I get it, though.

I used to write every day, but I don’t anymore. I don’t believe that you have to, either. 

When people tell you to write every day, I think what they’re really trying to say is that writing consistently is how you become a writer.

This is true. The more consistent you are, the more writing you’ll produce.

Beyond that, the more often you write, the better you’ll know your voice, your style, your subject matter. You do have to put in the time and effort to get better at writing, just like any skill. There are no shortcuts, but there also are no rules about how often you need to write.

Besides, writing consistently means something different for every writer.

I used to write every day, and at the time, it’s exactly what I needed to do.

I was working full time and getting over months-long flare-up of an autoimmune disease that had zapped the life out of me. When I felt better, the first thing I wanted to do was start writing again.

I decided to challenge myself to write every day for 100 days. I figured if I could do that, I’d be back into a writing groove that I could stick with. The rules were very simple: just write something creative every day, as little as one sentence, and have zero expectations for it.

I wanted to quit almost daily for the first two weeks, but after a month I was working on what would become my first novel manuscript.

The story emerged out of an exercise I did during the first few weeks. I had not planned on writing a novel, but it was something I ended up working on for the next four years! I might never have come across it had I not been writing daily at that point in time.

After the 100 days ended, I kept writing daily or almost daily, and went on like that for years. I never strayed too far from my writing practice.

But I do believe there are seasons in life and in writing. Just because you spend one season writing daily doesn’t mean you’ll spend them all that way.

And that’s ok!

It’s more than ok, actually. It’s normal.

Some people write all the time, and that works for them. Many others can’t or don’t want to write daily. They need more space between sessions, or they have a demanding life that doesn’t leave much mental bandwidth or time for the depth of writing they want to do.

Being consistent is much more important to your growth as a writer than adhering to an arbitrary “rule” about writing every day.

I don’t write daily anymore because it doesn’t work for me at this point in life. I spend my days with my toddler, teaching writing classes, reading, and working one-on-one as a writing coach. I’m also following my urge lately to make things by hand.

This all takes time and energy, so I prioritize them all as best I can.

I’ve also learned over the years that, for me, I just need to connect to my work-in-progress often to still feel connected to it. That doesn’t mean I have to write daily, it just means I have to stay somewhat close to the writing.

If I get too far from it, I lose momentum.

Getting back into a work-in-progress feels a hundred times harder for me than starting from scratch, so I make a point to keep a grip on the tether between me and my work.

I only learned these things about myself and my writing after being consistent for a while. You don’t have to put pen to paper daily to get there, but you should think about your own definition of consistency and what works for you.

Here are some ways you can be consistent if you aren’t a daily writer:

• Make a schedule for your writing sessions. Three times a week before work? All afternoon on Saturdays? An hour before bed a few nights a week?
• Find accountability in another writer or a coach or a writing group. Connection with other writers is often the exact thing we need to write more often.
• Set up a challenge for yourself like the one I described above. Writing something short daily for 100 days worked great for me, but you might need a different routine.
• Sign up for classes or workshops (online or in person) and learn from new people. Even if you write every single day for decades, you can still learn more about writing.
• Cut yourself some slack and remember that being consistent doesn’t necessarily mean you write “daily.” If you remove the shame or feelings of failure or expectations in general from the equation, you’ll be freer to write with a frequency that works for you.

Tell me, how often do you write?

What works best for you?

Or are you still figuring that out?