Anna North
This is a hard question because every aspiring writer is different. A lot of people will tell you to write every day, but I remember one of my teachers in grad school really pushed back against this advice -- she pointed out that a lot of people have caregiving responsibilities that make sitting down to write every day just impossible. For me, something that's been helpful is finding my best writing time -- in my case that tends to be early mornings -- and making space to write then as often as I can. That definitely happens less often than it used to now that I have a small child, but at least I have a routine established, and I can slide back into it when kid stuff permits.
I think, too, forgiving yourself when it doesn't happen is important. There's a lot of emphasis on productivity in writing and in American culture more generally, and right now there are so many things working against us trying to do the creative work we want to do. It's also okay to spend that time reading, being with loved ones, being alone, sleeping, taking care of yourself -- what you need on any given day may not actually be working on your writing project. This isn't exactly writing advice, but it's something I need to hear sometimes these days, so I'm leaving it here in case anybody else does too.
I think, too, forgiving yourself when it doesn't happen is important. There's a lot of emphasis on productivity in writing and in American culture more generally, and right now there are so many things working against us trying to do the creative work we want to do. It's also okay to spend that time reading, being with loved ones, being alone, sleeping, taking care of yourself -- what you need on any given day may not actually be working on your writing project. This isn't exactly writing advice, but it's something I need to hear sometimes these days, so I'm leaving it here in case anybody else does too.
More Answered Questions
About ŷ Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the ŷ community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
