The Practice of Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It’s easy to read a bit of self-righteousness into posts where writers tell other writers to write every day.  Or maybe it’s smugness. Or maybe it’s not really there at all, but I’m just reading it into the post.

That being said, I do write nearly every day.  I’m not going to say that I necessarily write when I’m sick or on Christmas morning or every day when I travel.  But I do write most every day.  Even on the above-mentioned days, I’ll likely still write, but I’ll write less.  I’ll call it a successful writing day if I crank out 100 words.

The reason I push myself that way is simply because I get rusty really quickly.  And, if I write, even a tiny amount, every day, then my writing practice is almost like muscle memory. This makes it sound like autopilot, which it’s not, but it’s pretty similar to it–I just sit down and immediately hop right back into the story.

But it’s different for every writer. There are some writers who, with all of their personal responsibilities,  couldn’t possibly write every day. There are some who just don’t need to…they can write as much once a week as I write every day for a week and without feeling rusty. Continue reading

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