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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Are you a self-publishing author? Develop your strategy for fiction

It’s easier than it’s ever been to make a great living writing fiction. If you choose, you can quit your day job knowing you have millions of fans waiting to buy your writing.

But… Why is it so HARD for most authors?

If you want to sell books, you need a self-publishing strategy for fiction.

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Updated: May 16, 2021