I don't write every day

But every day, my mind is working on writing

Let's take a quick beat to identify that for the context of this post, writing means putting words on the page, researching, planning, etc. Actually working with the story with one's hands.

I don't do this every day. I certainly have before; when I was in my MFA program it was a necessity in order to get all the work done on time. I participated in many a NaNoWriMo back in the day, and wrote the 1,667 daily words it takes to consistently climb to 50k in 30 days. I've even tried the 1k/day practice, the 5 am writers club, and just about every iteration of daily writing practices you can imagine. That's what happens over more than two decades of practicing a craft... you try many things.

What I've learned about myself though is that I can significantly reduce my copy editing time if I don't write every day. When I'm not writing, my brain is still working things out. The story, the characters, the textures, the individual words and phrases I hope will make my story sing, the lines of dialogue that pull double duty.

Then, when I come to the page ready to put words down, they flow more smoothly.

It'd be a lie to say I don't have to do any editing. I actually do quite a bit. I do at least 3-5 rounds of macro editing per story, then let it rest, do some more, give it to my book coach, make any changes suggested, let it rest, go in with copy/line edits, let it rest, give it to beta readers, make any necessary changes, let it rest, give it one more full macro & micro edit.

Then comes the proofreading. That's the step I hate. But I do it several times in the hopes of catching as much as I can.

So it's not like my process doesn't include a fair bit of editing and revision – I've just noticed it requires so much more when I force myself to write daily.

Sometimes I'll go whole weeks or even months and the only thing I write is a social media post here, a newsletter there, and a journal entry in between. But all the while, my brain is working on the stories.

It's most accurate to say I write every day when we include daydreaming and thinking about our stories in writing work. Typically I do, but I wanted to share this because I know there are plenty of aspiring writers out there who never get started because they fear they can't write every day.

I want them to know it's fine if that's the case.

And they should play my free world-building game to get started.

How do you like to write? Go ahead and hit reply and let me know – I'm curious!

PS: I had two exciting things happen yesterday – one was a complete surprise and the other is also awesome but I knew about it. First, I stepped into the hot seat to be coached on the #amwriting podcast by my book coach, Stuart Wakefield. You can listen to the episode here. It was fabulous! Second, I was randomly scrolling the gram and saw a post of books about women in Ancient Rome. Thinking I'd find some more novels to add to my already towering TBR, I started swiping through, and there was my book, Daughter of the Seven Hills! I was so excited. Here's the post.