You Mean, Every Day?

"People say they write every day, but I don't believe them." -- comment overhead at my last writing group meeting

Back in January, I decided that I was going to write fiction every day for at least 30 minutes, for a whole year. Unfortunately, I trailed off somewhere in February, what with blogging and work-related stuff. I didn't realize how important it was to stick to this commitment day in and day out, without making excuses about being too busy or tired.

Today I read Jack Canfield's Success Principle #35 -- 99% Is a Bitch; 100% Is a Breeze:

Successful people adhere to the "no exceptions rule" when it comes to their daily disciplines. Once you make a 100% commitment to something, there are no exceptions. It's a done deal. Nonnegotiable. Case closed! Over and out. . . . If you make the 100% commitment to exercise every day for 30 minutes, no matter what, then it is settled. You simply just do it. It doesn't matter if you are traveling, if you have a 7:00 AM television interview, if it's raining outside, if you went to bed late last night, if your schedule is full, or if you simply don't feel like it. You just do it anyway.

I really liked writing every day. It didn't always feel easy, but I was amazed at how the pages piled up, even with that small commitment. And honouring my own work first, before I embarked on other tasks for the day, kept me settled and grounded. So I want to go back to that resolution, this time with 100% commitment.

From an article called "Finishing the Book" by Rob Preece:

Write Every Day It seems like an almost impossible goal. Life has a way of throwing up distractions. Well, tough. You've got to write every day. If you write a page a day, you'll have a novel in a year (365 pages is approximately 91,000 words). If you don't make yourself write every day, you'll train yourself to become adept at finding excuses not to write. Trust me, you're already plenty good at these excuses. Rather than justify not writing, write every day. Even ten minutes can be enough to keep the juices flowing.

Writing every day means making a commitment to your writing. Anyone who plans to become a professional tennis player will play every day. They know their competitors are out on the court and are improving their game. Piano players practice every day. They know that their skills will rust if they aren't continuously honed. Writing is a labor of love, but it is a labor. Writing every day represents your commitment to success.

The inverse of writing every day is not writing on some other schedule (Note: you may choose to write every day but Sunday, for example. You must not even consider something vague like writing every "other" day. If you do, you'll soon find that every day is the other one). Instead, the inverse of writing every day is not writing at all. If you wait until inspiration hits, until your mood is just write, until your children or husband or wife is properly supportive, you'll never find enough moments to write your book. Don't make excuses, make pages.

Okay, okay. I hear you. I'm back on the wagon. Starting tomorrow.