Writing Process: Is Daily Writing Essential?

I get lots of questions about developing a writing process. Specifically, do you have to write every day?

Usually I respond with something like—it’s easier when you do.

Many people have been credited with this quote, from Franz Liszt who said it in 1894, onwards:

“If I miss one day’s practice, I notice it. If I miss two days’ practice, the critics notice it. If I miss three days’ practice, the public notices it.”

Your writing process

As I said in Angela Booth’s Easy-Write Process: Write The EASY Way, Like a Professional Writer:

“Here’s a secret: the only reason I can write every day, is because I write every day.”

I didn’t start out like that, of course. In my first few years of writing I procrastinated woefully. From memory, it took around ten years for writing to become a habit.

Do your prep: are you ready to write?

Sometimes you can open your computer and start writing. Usually, you need to do some prep on a project first. Prep makes writing easier; you’ll write more in less time.

From How To Make Writing Fun And Kill Creative Anxiety Forever:

No chef starts cooking without his mise en place. All his ingredients for a dish are prepared and set out, ready for him to use when he turns on the stove.

Big tip: be patient with yourself. It takes time to build a writing process which works for you.

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