Lion's Tooth Editing

I set a goal of one blog post every week, preferably on Thursday. Then I immediately failed to meet that goal. I didn’t post at all the next week and this week I’m not posting until Saturday. It’s the perfect set-up for a discussion on pretty standard writing advice.

People will tell you, all the time, that to be a writer you need to write, and that setting up a discipline of writing regularly, even every day, is best.

It’s true that all you need to be a writer is to write, and establishing a discipline of regular writing can be extremely helpful, perhaps even desirable, but there are a lot of reason this doesn’t always work out.

Maybe your day job leaves you too tired at the end of the day. Maybe you can set up a routine to write on your days off, but maybe you need to use those days for, I don’t know, rest?

Maybe you deal with chronic pain or other disability for which some days are better than others. This is my experience. Last week, I had a migraine that lasted for four days, and there are symptoms both before and after the migraine itself, and that’s not including the time it takes to recover from the resultant exhaustion. I have three different conditions that can cause fatigue and brain fog. Just as often as I experience pain, I struggle to focus.

Does this impede my ability to work? The short answer is yes, but I know how to budget my energy, and I set professional deadlines with my capabilities in mind. This blog, however, is not contracted and therefore sits considerably lower on my list of priorities.

Is regular productivity preferable? Absolutely. I am well aware that establishing a recognizable presence is much easier when you are reliably active. However, you can only do what you can do. As I’m able, I will write ahead and schedule blog posts. Maybe I should have done that before I ever started posting, but, honestly, having the mild pressure of knowing it is already public helps mitigate my ADHD.

The simple fact is that a little writing is better than no writing. Irregular writing is better than no writing. Regardless of your circumstances.

Like most writing advice out there, there are plenty of people contradicting the ‘write every day’ admonition, speaking up about how it doesn’t work for them, and you shouldn’t feel guilty or less-than if it doesn’t work for you. The thing is, you get to choose who you listen to. The people who tell you to find what works for you aren’t giving you permission to break the rule if you need to. You don’t need permission. The people who say to write every day mean well, and it’s good advice, for those who can.

The trick, like most things in life, is listening to yourself and taking all advice with a grain of salt. Measure it up against what you know, what others say, and your specific and unique set of circumstances. Don’t worry if you can’t finish a book in a year, or even ten. If you’re making progress, you doing well. Writing is hard enough without stressing out over arbitrary benchmarks set by other people.

Oh, and by the way, the people who started the whole ‘write every day’ thing? Yeah, they wrote like it’s their job because it was their job. They were lucky that way. Most of the people I see giving that advice today are still people who are lucky enough to make a living writing. When you are making enough from your writing to support yourself? Yeah, you probably should make sure you’re writing something every day. Until then, their guidance really boils down to ‘put words on paper’ and ‘make it a priority.’ You know, behind the necessities, like food and rest. Take care of yourself. Then write.