One thing that’s hammered into writers, over and over, is ‘write every day.’ The idea being that the only way you’re going to get better is to produce words every day, whether it’s 100, 500, 1000 or more. We’re told, as writers, that it doesn’t matter what you write, even if it’s completely rubbish, because you can always go back and edit. This is true – first drafts are rarely going to be shining gems. But in regards to writing every day, it’s one piece of advice that can be thrown out the window.
If it does work for you, great! Keep doing it. Honestly, I prefer write when you can, when you want to. Whether that’s one day a week, or every day for a few weeks with breaks in-between. To be honest, convincing myself I had to write every day has caused me more guilt than anything else. The days when I don’t write, I used to question myself on whether it meant my writing wasn’t as good, or I wasn’t as much a writer as other people, etc. I used to beat myself up over it.
Truth is, sometimes when I get home, I can barely focus. Words on screens start to swim after a day of, well, looking at words on screens. And I know, if I were to write then, it just wouldn’t be good. I wouldn’t enjoy it, I’d struggle, and get annoyed. And honestly, what’s the point of writing if you’re not enjoying it? Normally, I do. Enjoy it, I mean. But I can’t just sit and write when I don’t feel like it.
Every so often, I come home from work, and just play video games. This might be for a day or two, or a whole week. Usually only a week if I know I’ll have plenty of writing time coming up. And on the weekends, I’m with my boyfriend; we don’t live together, so it’s the only time we get to spend decent amounts of time together. We play games, we watch things – I don’t write. And you know what? That’s okay.
It’s okay to take a break now and then. To be a writer – even a good one – you don’t have to write every day, when you least feel like it. It took me a while to realise that and to stop beating myself up for not slaving over the keyboard for another few hours in the evenings, or to not feel guilty for enjoying time with my boyfriend rather than locking down into what is, essentially, a solitary activity. Besides that, as writers we still need things outside of writing; it can’t become our whole lives, otherwise, what would we write about?
So, if you take occasional days off from writing, for whatever reason, just know it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world, and those characters will still be waiting for you when you come back. A little break never harmed anyone. You don’t have to write every day; just write whenever you feel best to do so.
Unwrapping Words 