Do You Need to Write Every Day? (Michelle Intro) (01/11/2020)

Do You Need to Write Every Day? | The Weekly Atticus

January 11, 2020

A recap of the week's writing at Atticus Review. Introduction by Michelle Ross. Tomorrow is the deadline for our Videopoem Contest!

One of the endless debates writers seem to have is whether writing every day is necessary. Necessary for what is not always clear, but usually it’s something to do with being a “serious” writer. It’s a conversation that brings up questions about privilege and diligence and inspiration, among a few. It’s a silly debate in a way because of course there’s no one-size-fits-all way to be a writer or anything else for that matter.

This is a conversation that comes up again and again, I think, because most of us experience some amount of anxiety about the time, or lack thereof, that we spend writing. We feel anxious and/or resentful because of all the competing demands for our time  — work, grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, pulling weeds, paying bills, exercise, fixing the broken garage opener, driving children to lessons, games, and other events, caring for pets, making time for significant others. We envy those who have fewer competing demands. For these reasons and more, we may feel enormous pressure when we do sit down to write to make the best use of that time. The pressure can sap the joy out of that time and lead us to squander the precious little time we have on something other than writing. Then comes the internal criticism about what the heck kind of writers we are if we complain about not having enough time to write but then waste the time we have.  

I’m familiar with all those feelings, but most importantly, when I don’t make time for writing, I don’t feel whole, and then I feel angry and depressed. I went to a therapist some years ago who said to me that unhappiness is often a result of not living according to our values. She implored me to spend some time thinking about what my values are and whether I was living by them. I think about this gem of advice when this conversation of whether or not it’s crucial to write every day comes up. If one values writing as a sacred part of one’s identity, then not writing day after day may likely cause internal conflict.   

But I think it’s a mistake to conclude that the only way to resolve this conflict is to write every day. It depends on the writer and their circumstances. Some maybe just need to check in with their writer selves for a few minutes every day when they don’t have time to write. Or maybe spending time regularly thinking through ideas for a writing project is enough to sustain some for weeks or months. The question, as far as I see it, is: am I living my life the way I want to live it, taking into consideration the reality of what I can and cannot control?

I seem to be among those writers who need to write every day, so when my life’s other responsibilities and priorities evolved to the point that I couldn’t figure out when else to write during the week, I made the decision to start getting up early to write in the mornings. Some days I don’t spend this time as well as I’d like and some days this time is far briefer than I’d like, but the ritual of setting aside even just a little bit of time goes a long way toward helping me feel whole.

Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.

Michelle Ross

Fiction Editor

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