Consistency is not my strong suit. In fact, posting a video nearly every week for almost a year on this channel comes as a major surprise to me (and possibly others). I just enjoy talking into the void of a camera lens that much, I guess.

But for the life of me, I just can’t follow through with the advice I hear so often: “Write Every Day.” [Insert clip: I just can’t do it Captain…]

So is writing every day really a key to success? Even though I’ll skip days, sometimes going a whole work week without getting anything written, I’m still churning out a large amount of writing each month.

Because of this, my most controversial hot take in this series about common writing advice is: you do NOT need to write every day to be successful. But having said that, I completely understand why this advice is helpful to many and I think it deserves to be broken down to what the advice is really telling us: stay consistent.

Hi, I’m C. Sloan Lewis, and Welcome to My Channel!

If you’re someone who takes the advice “Write Every Day” literally and that works for you, GREAT! Keep doing what you’re doing. But if you’re taking it literally and it DOESN’T work for you, then stop it.

You have to understand that trying to force yourself to write every day can lead to some pretty negative consequences like, I don’t know, hating to write. If you have a goal set to write for an hour a day or a set word count, like 200 words, and you aren’t able to regularly meet that, you will feel discouraged and probably shame yourself for not doing it. And if you force yourself to do it and it sucks, then you’re turning something that should be a fulfilling and positive experience into a chore.

Here’s the thing, though: most writers do write every day whether or not they are putting words down on the page. Writing is more than the act we think of when someone says writing.

We write in our heads all the time. In the car on the way to and from work, in waiting rooms, or in the shower.

Perhaps we’re researching. Like yesterday I was studying medieval military tactics because it’s an unfortunate necessity for me to learn as a fantasy author.

And sometimes I make my characters in the Sims and see how their lives unfold with the personality traits I’ve given them. I’m not playing games, I’m working!

Then, when I sit down to write, I can fly through my ideas because they are there ready to go when I open the gates.

What this advice really wants from you is to build a consistent and regular writing practice. Even if you can only write a couple of evenings a week or on the weekends, they need to be consistent. I love writing during my lunch break because it gives me something else to think about other than how many of my students are using AI to write their essays now. I also do a lot of writing on Fridays when I’m not at work and my daughter is in daycare. On the weekend, I’ll write on the couch when she’s watching Frozen for the hundredth time.

No matter what you’ve got going in your life, you need to create a regular schedule of when you write, especially because it helps your brain get into the writing session when it’s used to that being the time for writing. Do whatever feels right for you. And remember that most writers who recommend “write every day” literally are full-time writers who damn well better be writing every day if that’s the only thing they’re doing for work.

Another key element this advice is actually asking you to do is to make writing a practice, not a hobby. It should be important enough that you are working on it every day. Sometimes I’m just not feeling up for writing a story during the times I have carved out of my week, so instead I’ll read a book on the craft or one that’s a strong example of the genre I’m writing in.

In addition to this advice asking writers to stay consistent, it’s also asking them to make writing more of a priority.

But when you’re a full-time teacher and mom with a social life, sometimes you’re consistent priority is only about 6 hours a week. And that’s perfectly okay. There will be a time in my life when I will be able to dedicate more time to my writing and perhaps I’ll even get into a rhythm of writing every single day. But because I’m not able to follow this advice, because I have a really busy and kind of intense life right now, doesn’t mean I’m doing anything wrong. Even though I’m aiming to be a full-time successful author one day, I’m not willing to put that ahead of the responsibilities I need to focus on for my family.

And I think when it comes to this advice or just the general idea of how much writing you get done in a week, a month, or even a year, maybe step back and evaluate what’s going on in your life. Are you still in college and have a part-time job? Are you a single parent or the sole breadwinner for your family? Are you putting in overtime and focusing all your mental acuity toward getting a promotion? If you have a busy life and yet you’re still writing consistently, again in whatever amount that might be for you, if you’re getting writing done regularly, instead of shaming yourself and saying that you’re not doing enough, you need to pat yourself on the back.

Life is hard, so don’t make it harder by setting impossible writing goals for yourself.

But if you’re a writer who is wanting to strive for what is at the heart of the advice “write every day,” I have some suggestions for you.

In this day and age, I think my biggest suggestion is that you need to make an effort to spend less time on your phone and other devices. I have found that the more time I spend on social media or watching YouTube videos, streaming Netflix or Disney plus, the less my brain is able to produce with my writing. If you set a limit on your phone of only being able to use certain apps for a small amount of time then you’re going to find that you have a lot more time in your day to, I don’t know, write.

And with that idea instead of giving yourself word counts which can be far more daunting especially if you’re struggling to push through writer’s block is to give yourself an amount of time to spend on your writing even if you only write 10 words. But if you set out to write for an hour and you stick with that hour then, hey, you did what you set out to do.

And just like my fitness instructor brother suggests with building up an exercise routine: try to fit in 5 to 10 minutes of writing every day. Not that I recommend it but you could do this while sitting on the toilet it doesn’t have to be a dedicated time at your desk space for writing. For instance, there’s a really long stop light that I always managed to hit on my way both to and from work and so I often will write down notes of what I was thinking while I was actively driving.

And also be sure to use the wonderful world of technology that we have where you can be driving and do voice-to-text, taking notes of your ideas as they’re coming to you. Or maybe, you know, not while you’re using a motor vehicle.

If having a consistent writing routine is truly a priority for you, you can find the time to do it regularly. I think the big thing that I want you all to take away from this, though, is to give yourself grace. There are a lot of writers out there who are giving advice about writing in a far different situation than most of the people who are taking in that advice. It’s just a common human nature thing that full-time writers eventually forget what it was like to scrape up whatever little time that they could afford in their days or weeks in the before times.

Most importantly I want to make sure that you are not discouraging yourself and not shaming yourself for failing to live up to expectations that do not fit your lifestyle or your writing style. Be kind to yourself know that this is a journey and as life changes you will need to change with it.

But I’ll go ahead and get off my soapbox and end this video for today. In the comments, please share any advice you might have to help your fellow writers with writing consistently or finding ways to write unconventionally. Also, you know, be sure to like, subscribe and hit the bell and watch my other videos and all that good stuff.

You’ve got some writing to do! I’ll see you next week! Ta-Ta!