Okay, so I’ve got good news and bad news. You do need to write every day unless:

1. You don’t want to be a writer;
2. You write solely for pleasure; or
3. You are a professional or successful author or writer who has established writing habits.

If you don’t want to be a writer. Well done you – you do not need to add the rampant imposter syndrome that is a ‘perk’ of the job to your daily neuroses. If you write solely for pleasure, you are my hero. I’m serious. You have discovered the holy grail. Stick with it, and your life will be joyful.

If you are already a professional writer or author and have established your writing habits, then ignore me. You are way past needing any advice from me. You will know the importance of having established writing habits, and you’re already doing really well.

For the rest of us ordinary writing folk – it is my considered, researched, evidenced contention that we MUST write every day. There are more reasons for this than a simple blog can provide, but these are some of my primary reasons for this position:

• Serious about writing – then act like it. Nobody needs to write for themselves. Billions of people live happy lives without ever choosing to take up writing. It is a sad fact that nobody really cares whether you ever write a book. But if you choose to do so – take it seriously. If you don’t, why should anyone else?

If you have ambitions to be a professional, full-time or successful writer, then the fact is – it is a job. Treat it like one. Show up. If you don’t, then frankly, either write for fun or don’t bother.

The fact is that your competition is going to turn up. Nobody out there who is not already a celeb is going to pop some words on paper and get a publishing deal. If you speak to an author who has become an ‘overnight success’, the chances are that they have been writing for a decade, and this is not even close to their first book.

I don’t have the percentages of people whose debut novels/books get published, but I can tell you they are very, very low. It’s not impossible – but if you take this on and you’re serious about it – statistically, you need to commit to the long haul.

• Mastering your craft. As Stephen King says – there are only a few genuine masters of the craft in any generation – the Austens, Dickens and Brontes of the world. If you can string a coherent sentence together, you are a competent writer. With a LOT of practice and some timely help, you can be a good writer.

Mastering anything takes thousands and thousands of hours. In our case, tens of thousands of words. I don’t know anyone in the world who knows everything there is to know about writing.

If you want to master writing, then you need to write A LOT. So, let’s get real here. If you need to write for thousands of hours or tens of thousands of words, then how are you going to do that if you sit down ‘every now and then’ to write?

• Exercising our creative brain. Those of you who follow me will have heard me say this before. We are used to getting into and staying in the logical side of our brain. We work, study, and run our households by using that side of our brain. Such is the way we have developed as humans that the creative sides of our brains get much less airtime.

If they are to work as effectively, then they must be exercised. The most effective way of exercising any muscle is to make it happen every day. Our creative brains are no different.

‘Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.’ Jane Yolen

• Finishing your book. If you write occasionally or irregularly, then you may start your book, and you may finish it. However, if you write every day – even for a very short time, you WILL finish it. I have proof of this from all of my coaching clients, and many of the members of my Writing Tribe

As Darren Hardy says – it’s the small things we do every day that make the biggest changes in our lives.

One of the big problems we have in writing, especially with such busy brains, is remembering where we are up to in our books. If we have limited time and have to use that to reacquaint ourselves with where we’ve got to, then we won’t move forward. Writing every day, even for a very short time, solves that problem. You will remember where you were only 24 hours before.

• Building momentum. There is a value-add to writing every day. Have you ever heard of Jim Collin’s Flywheel Effect? It’s all about building momentum. Writing every day builds momentum that goes far beyond the action itself. Yes, you get those words down, BUT it’s more than that. You will find it so much easier to get into the creative side of your brain and stay there. You will find you begin to write faster and find that your creative ideas flow more easily. That won’t happen every day, we all have days where it feels like walking through treacle, but it will happen much more often. You will see that word count build which will motivate you to write more.

As the late great Maya Angelou said:

‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.’

Let’s talk about time. Okay, so it’s fair to say in our modern lives, time is our most precious commodity. We have so much to cram into our time. That’s just a fact, BUT it’s not going to happen unless you spend time on it. That is also a fact. You will get back what you put into it. That is yet another fact.

However, the most common reason for not writing I have heard over many years is that ‘I don’t have time’. I decided to work out how much time a person would need to get their book written. Even I was astounded to discover that it was as little as ten minutes a day. Sounds crazy and far too simple, doesn’t it?

The great news is that I have tried and tested it with my coaching clients and my Writing Tribe members, and it works. It has worked with hundreds of writers to get their books finished.

How does it work:

The rules are VERY simple:

• Write every single day for a minimum of 10minutes (you can write for more); and
• Do NOT edit, research, or review during your writing session (jumping between the creative and logical sides of your brain will most likely cause writer’s block)

Did you know that the average person writes at 40 words per minute? Let’s look at the maths.

10minutes x 40wpm = 400 words

400words x 7 days per week = 2800

2800words x 3months = 33 600words

2800words x 6months = 72 800words

And that is with an investment of 70 minutes a week – just over one hour’s effort every week.

I leave you with this thought from Louis L’Amour:

‘Start writing, no matter what. The water doesn’t flow until the faucet is turned on.’

In very simple terms, writing is the same as any other ambition. The formula for success is dream + action + consistency = success.

Talent is almost irrelevant, as Stephen King says, competent writers can become good writers with a lot of practice and timely help. Persistence is everything in writing.

Happy writing!

Nicole J