On Not Writing Every Day

I am a writer who doesn't write every day.

There are very few of us, the writers who will admit publicly to not valuing daily writing. Not just not doing it or scheduling it, but not seeing the point at all.

Let me back up. I know plenty of successful writers who are much more disciplined than I am. They get up early or stay up late or tap away while their kids leap around them. They have word counts and time limits, and they produce good books -- even if they have day jobs-- at a fairly consistent pace.

I won't do it.

My young adult novel, THE OBVIOUS GAME, comes out on February 7, two days after my thirty-ninth birthday and about twenty-two years after I developed a pretty bad case of anorexia. My 15-year-old protagonist, Diana, has a mom with cancer, a wrestler boyfriend, and yes, an increasingly serious battle with anorexia.

It took me at least ten years to recover from my eating disorder mentally, even though I looked pretty normal after three. Here's what I learned during my recovery: I don't deal well with "shoulds." I am, however, very good with self-motivation.

I worked on THE OBVIOUS GAME once or twice a week for two years, then kept revising it as needed throughout the process of finding an agent and a publisher. I spent a lot of time thinking about the story and my characters and the scene I was working on between my writing sessions, but I only sat down with that intent maybe 120 times in two years, sometimes for an hour and sometimes for six. If I'd put a daily word count or time limit on myself, I know I would've spent far more time worrying about when I was going to write than what I would be writing about.

When I was sick, all I could think about was when I was going to eat and exercise next, to the extent that those thoughts crowded out everything else. That happens to me very easily when I adopt rigid daily goals for myself.

Ironically, the only way I can effectively write is to not thinking about actual writing unless I am actually doing it at the time.

Right now I'm focusing on getting people to give THE OBVIOUS GAME a look, but in a few months I'll be getting back to the novel I started about six months ago. I learned a lot about myself while working on THE OBVIOUS GAME. I won't be giving myself a deadline to finish, a daily word count or a daily time limit. I've learned I can easily write words, but if they suck, what's the point? After one awful day when I cut 10,000 words in two hours, I now much prefer to have thought things through beforehand, then write in sporadic but more productive bursts. That works for me.

Other people may find value in daily goals, but I can't think of anything more toxic to my writing brain.

Tags: daily, discipline, goals, novels, practice, structure, writing

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Comment by Rita Arens on February 19, 2013 at 8:12am: I have been thinking for a while now I should start on my new novel now that THE OBVIOUS GAME is out, but I'm realizing all the guest posts and interviews I've done to support TOG have sapped my words for the moment, so I'm giving myself the month of February to just think about it.

Comment by Kamy Wicoff on February 15, 2013 at 9:32pm: I love this post -- I think my writing too and then have explosions. Recently I was prevented from my daily writing for a full week, and was so discouraged/depressed, but as my mind worked on the chapter to come, I realized that what I would have written had I had the time that week would have been totally different than what it will be now that I gave it more time to percolate in my head. Not sure what to make of that, but it's interesting...

Comment by Julie Luek on February 5, 2013 at 4:26pm: There's a part of me that really gets what you're saying here. I have to be really careful with self-imposed goals-- they quickly become binding rules I have to obey, and soon I'm locked in a prison of heeding the rules instead of finding joy in the living. Good for you for finding a pace and way of writing that allows you to operate in freedom and joy.

Comment by Daphne Q on February 4, 2013 at 7:42pm: Hi, Rita:

I admire your ability to have this schedule. I have to write every day. It's the way I am.

Congrats on your book, too!

DQ

Comment by Karyne Corum on February 4, 2013 at 11:41am: I'm with you. I have tried various methods for writing goals. Each one a kind suggestion from another writer. I have found that when I get the bug, I will write till I'm exhausted and what I produce is significantly better than when I force myself to write. What I try to set for myself is a loose run through, sort of like a movie or play run through, of scenes then I work on each scene till it's what I want. Each writer has what I think is a personal playbook of how their craft likes to come out and play, it's like a Ink and Paper or Keyboard DNA stamp. No two ones are alike.

Comment by Rita Arens on February 4, 2013 at 9:05am: I love the idea of a Ta Da list, Adela! I need to make one of those.

Comment by Adela Crandell Durkee on February 4, 2013 at 7:31am: I can hardly wait to get my hands on your book, Rita. You give me encouragement that my pace is the best pace for me. I do set goals and have lists, Although I prefer the Ta-da list (list what I've done) over the To-do list (list what I must do.)

Comment by Rita Arens on February 3, 2013 at 3:46pm: I don't know that daily goals are a men vs. women thing, but that's an interesting way of looking at it! I am such a listmaker normally, so this is actually me attempting to be less structured in my writing life.

Comment by Cathy Cimato on February 2, 2013 at 6:27pm: Hi Rita,

I've had a problem with the idea of writing every day and setting word count goals as well. It's never really worked for me either. I don't think it means you're less of a writer if you actually think about things in your head first before you write. You're still writing, you're just writing it out in your head.

Comment by Patricia A. Watts on February 2, 2013 at 2:39pm: I,too,am a writer who doesn't write every day but like Kristen I "think" my writing every day and then write by explosions. Sometimes I write for 12 hours straight because the ideas won't stop exploding. I think as women we spend a lot of our time trying to be what others need us to be--the supportive wife, the attentive daughter, the caring friend, the responsible employee, the super mom. At 61,I am learning to pay attention to what is mine and not feel bad about it--and my creative process is mine. Mark Twain was a disciplined writer who wrote a minimum number of words every day. I know there are countless ways in which I can improve as a writer but I also know I am never going to be Mark Twain, and, more importantly, I don't need to be Mark Twain.